A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1301: Armor Shines to the Sun and Scales Open
"Xing Guogong."

"The minister is here."

Li Shimin looked at Su Dingfang who had just arrived with his army and asked, "How much do you know about Anshi City?"

"Your Majesty, Anshi City is also a mountain city, built on a not-too-high mountain. The city is high in the east and low in the west. The city walls are built along the mountain ridges on the north, south and east sides. The walls are all rammed earth, and there are four gates in the city.

On the west side is the main gate opened by the rammed earth wall to block the mountain pass, and there is also a water gate on the south side of the west gate.

This city is sandwiched between two mountains with a ravine. The city wall is built in the middle of the mountain ridge on the south side, and the northern slope of the mountain surrounds the city. This slope is steep, and the city wall is also built on the slope on the north side..."

"The entire city covers an area of ​​about 1,000 acres, but apart from the narrow valleys, there is very little flat land in the city.

The hillside outside the south city is gentle and easy to climb, and the terrain outside the north city wall is also open.
The northern mountains outside the city are very far away, with no narrow valleys to be found. It is a large open plain between the mountains. There are mountains facing each other outside the east city wall and the southeast corner..."

Wu Huaiyu asked the army officer for paper and pen.

He simply drew a map on the spot based on Su Dingfang's description. He had superb drawing skills and it was easy for him to draw this kind of map.

Soon, a sketch of Anshi City was completed.

Li Shimin also saw Wu Huaiyu drawing a picture, and waited for him to finish and then handed it to him for him to see.

It is clear at a glance,
Very intuitive.

"It looks like Anshi City is easier to defend than Baiyan City." Li Shimin took a look at the map and quickly came up with several attack plans in his mind, but they were undoubtedly difficult to attack.

"Who is this Anshi City Defender?"

Gao Huanquan stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I know the Lord of Anshi City very well. His name is Liang Wanchun, and he is from the Juenu tribe of the Five Tribes."

The Juenu tribe, one of the five tribes of Goguryeo, is also called the northern or rear tribe.

"Liang Wanchun was born in the north and served as the General of the Left Guard of the Royal Guard of King Rongliu. Later, he fell out with Gai Suwen and was demoted to Anshi City by him.

After Gai Suwen murdered the king and usurped the throne, he ordered the city lords in various places to pledge allegiance to support his puppet Gao Baozang. Liang Wanchun refused to do so, so Gai Suwen sent troops to attack him.

However, Liang Wanchun defeated Gai Suwen's troops several times, and in the end, Gai Suwen was unable to do anything to him."

When Li Shimin heard this, he looked at Sun Daiyin. It seemed that Liang Wanchun had a similar background to Sun Daiyin. They were both Rongliu Wang's men. They were both demoted to the countryside by the powerful official Gai Suwen. However, Liang Wanchun was even more amazing. He dared to openly oppose Gai Suwen.
Gai Suwen sent troops to attack, but he was unable to defeat them.

"Can the prince send someone to invite him to surrender?" Li Shimin asked.

"I am willing to go to Anshi City to pacify Liang Wanchun for Your Majesty."

"Well, tell Liang Wanchun that as long as he submits to the Tang Dynasty, I can grant him a high position and a high rank, and I will also protect the military and civilians of Anshi City."

Li Ji then stepped forward and said, "Since Anshi City is at odds with Gai Suwen and is the old king's confidant, it shouldn't be a problem for the Liaodong County Prince to go there to pacify them.

Your Majesty, I think we can first take Xincheng and annihilate those tens of thousands of remaining soldiers, so that the north can be stabilized."

Many people think that since Liang Wanchun is at odds with the current Goguryeo court and is even at war with it, he has no reason not to submit to the Tang Dynasty now.

Firstly, he was now almost an isolated city, as the surrounding Jian'an and Liaodong had been captured by the Tang army. Secondly, even if there were reinforcements, he and the current Goguryeo court were still enemies, so Gai Suwen would not be able to rescue him.

He had no reason not to submit to the Tang Dynasty.

"His Majesty,"

Wu Huaiyu spoke.

"I think we should not place too much hope on Liang Wanchun. If he really wanted to surrender, he should have surrendered at the beginning of our attack. But he has not made any move until now and has been defending Anshi. It is obvious that he has no intention of surrendering to the Tang Dynasty."

Wu Huaiyu's words puzzled many people.

But there is a reason why Wu Huaiyu dared to say this.

First of all, in history, Li Shimin personally led an expedition to Goguryeo and conquered many cities, but the two cities that were more difficult to conquer were Baiyan City and Anshi City.

There were heavy casualties in Baiyan City, but fortunately Sun Daiyin surrendered in the end.

But Anshi City is a tough nut to crack.
The Tang army fought for 88 days at Anshi City but failed to capture it. Although the Tang army defeated 150,000 Goguryeo troops who came to support in the Battle of Anshi, they still failed to capture Anshi City in the end.

After many days of fierce attack on Anshi City, the Tang army lost a lot of soldiers and horses. Finally, in winter, the Tang army had to retreat.

Although Liang Wanchun had fought with Gai Suwen,

But that was an internal conflict, while with the Tang Dynasty, it was an external conflict.

This Liang Wanchun is obviously a person who is willing to stand united against the outside world.

Wu Huaiyu supported Li Jing's idea of ​​opening up the north and the south first. After all, the Tang army now controlled southern Liaoning and could get supplies from the sea, especially Qingnipu Port, which was a non-freezing port. The port from Qingdao to Qingnipu Port was still navigable during the winter and spring freezing period of the Bohai Sea. This would allow the supply line to be maintained and even reinforcements from the sea could be provided at any time.

In winter and spring, the Bohai Sea is frozen, and the Liaohe River is naturally frozen as well. The most important thing is that the land supply line from Youying to Liaodong is almost cut off during this season.

If the Tang army wants to continue to stay in Liaodong after winter and defend the captured cities, then it is necessary to keep a supply and reinforcement road open. Otherwise, if the army is isolated in Liaodong for half a year, who knows what accidents may happen.

In contrast, whether to attack Xincheng, Jinshan, Buyeo, Nansu and other cities will have little impact at this stage. If you don't attack this year, you can continue to attack next year, or take Anshi first and then attack Xincheng.

Li Shimin stroked his beard and fell into deep thought.

Since the expedition, the Tang army has hardly encountered any decent resistance. The repeated surrender of Baiyan City made him a little angry, but facing the fierce attack of the Tang army, Baiyan City only held out for one day before surrendering again.

The emperor couldn't help but feel that the Goguryeo people were indeed vulnerable. And since Liang Wanchun had the same background as Sun Daiyin, and had even been attacked by Gai Suwen before, there was no reason for him not to submit when Gao Huanquan, the former crown prince of Goguryeo and current king, was asked to persuade them to surrender.

Even if you refuse to submit,

Anshi City covers an area of ​​no more than a thousand acres. For a mountain city like this, there wouldn't be many soldiers and horses. Even if they really wanted to attack by force, they could still take it.

"Then we will split the troops into two groups." Li Shimin thought for a moment and said, "Duke Ying, you and Duke Song will lead your 50,000 soldiers to return north and capture Xincheng."

The emperor pointed at the map and said, "Divide your troops into two groups. Duke Ying will lead Duke Liang Qibi Heli, Hu Gu Qingyun and others to attack Ganwu City, Cangyan City, Mudi City, and Guiduan City from east to west, and head straight for Xincheng."

"Duke Song, Prince Guihua, Cao Sanliang and others attacked Lishan City, Momi City, and then Xincheng from south to north,"

"The two groups finally met in Xincheng,"

The emperor himself led the imperial camp and Su Dingfang's southern troops to the south to pacify Anshi City. If Anshi City surrendered, he would then sweep the small and medium-sized mountain fortresses west of Jicui Mountain.

"King Daozong of Jiangxia came from the land, and Wu Heita came from the sea, and they attacked Wugut City by land and sea."

"Pang Xiaotai, Liu Boying and others attacked Daxingcheng at the mouth of the Yalu River from the sea."

Zhang Liang was stationed in Liaodong City, Wei Ting was stationed in Gaimu City, and Wu Sigong was stationed in Baiyan City to guard the baggage and food and serve as a reserve force.

The emperor was obviously still very optimistic and had many plans.

Wu Huaiyu tried to persuade the emperor a few times, and felt that he should be more cautious, but the emperor was full of confidence at this time and planned to sweep across Liaodong within three months, and he would not listen to the advice.

"Your Majesty, I think we should be prepared for both situations. We should be on guard against Liang Wanchun's stubborn refusal to surrender, and we should also be on guard against reinforcements from Goguryeo."

"Reinforcements? Where will the reinforcements come from? Can the Goguryeo people still get reinforcements?" Changsun Wuji was also a little proud, with a bit of disdain for the Goguryeo people.

Wu Huaiyu ignored his uncle and asked Gao Huanquan and Sun Daiyin directly.

"You should be more familiar with Goguryeo's background. Do you think Gai Suwen can mobilize reinforcements? How many can he mobilize?"

Gao Huanquan thought for a moment and said, "From the Yalu River area alone, we can probably dispatch 150,000 to 200,000 troops to reinforce the Liaodong front."

Sun Daiyin added, "150,000, and we have to keep some of it."

Changsun Wuji was stunned for a moment.

"Can Goguryeo still mobilize 150,000 people?"

Li Jing said, "Goguryeo still has at least 300,000 soldiers and horses, but they are scattered all over the place. In a short period of time, only about 150,000 can be deployed to reinforce Anshi."

"Impossible. Goguryeo is just a small country in Liaodong. Where did it get so many soldiers?"

Wu Huaiyu couldn't help himself and reminded Zhangsun Wuji, "Duke Zhao, although Goguryeo was a remote and barbaric country, it was established for more than 700 years and had a territory of thousands of miles. At its peak, it had more than a million households and millions of people, and it also had Mohe tribes as its vassal states. Do you think it's impossible for it to raise hundreds of thousands of troops?"

Zhang Sun Wuji was still a little unconvinced. "Even if we can gather more than 100,000 people, I'm afraid they are just conscripted men, a mob. Since your majesty personally led the expedition, you have been invincible. We have seen the elite troops of Liaodong City, Xincheng, Gaimu City, Jian'an City, Beisha City, Baiyan City, Wugu City, these so-called important cities,

Vulnerable! "

Wu Huaiyu didn't want to argue with Changsun Wuji, and part of what he said was true, but he was obviously underestimating the enemy.

Zhang Sun Wu continued, "Gai Suwen sent troops to attack Liang Wanchun in Anshi City not long ago. Even if Liang Wanchun resists and refuses to surrender, will Gai Suwen send troops to rescue him? If he does, he will send troops to reinforce Xincheng, or to seize Liaodong City, Baiyan City, Gaimu City, etc."

Judging from his own experience, he felt that Gai Suwen was a traitor who killed the king. Such a person would definitely kill someone else with a borrowed knife and get rid of Liang Wanchun who refused to submit to him. Why would he send troops to rescue him?

As for the fact that they could send out another 150,000 troops, Changsun Wuji didn't care at all. The Tang army had fought several battles and defeated more than 150,000 Goguryeo troops in total.

Even if we have another 150,000, they will definitely not be as good as the elite troops on the front line.

The excited Changsun Wuji even requested to lead the troops to capture Anshi City personally.

Li Shimin looked at Zhangsun Wuji, then at Li Jing and Wu Huaiyu. After thinking for a while, he said, "Minister Zhangsun Wuji and Governor of Yingzhou Su Dingfang, you two will be the generals of the Anshi Road Army. Lead 50,000 troops to the south first. Prince of Liaodong Gao Huanquan and Grand Admiral Lu Sun Daiyin, you will follow the army to recruit Liang Wanchun."

"I, the Duke of Wei, the Duke of Chu, the Duke of Yan and others will lead the imperial camp and follow soon."

Zhangsun Wuji and Su Dingfang were both appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Anshi Road Army, which was the same as Ma Zhou and Li Ji before. It was obvious that the emperor was giving his brother-in-law a chance to gild his reputation, or to put pressure on Su Dingfang.

The battle still had to be commanded by Su Dingfang, but if there was any merit, Changsun Wuji would take half of the credit, or even most of it.

Su Dingfang frowned and looked at his teacher Li Jing and his junior fellow apprentice Wu Huaiyu. He really wanted to object to this task to the emperor. Changsun Wuji had no idea how to lead troops in battle. If they really wanted to send someone to command him, why not send Wu Huaiyu? If Huaiyu went, he would be willing to be the deputy general manager.

Wu Huaiyu shook his head slightly at Su Dingfang, asking him to keep quiet.

Li Ji had readily accepted Ma Zhou as prime minister and they got along quite well.

(End of this chapter)