Tibet.

Chapter 1266 Lure the snake out of its hole
The crowd surrounded Gao Yuanbao and came to the city wall. There were about 20,000 Tang army soldiers standing two miles away from the city. Although they looked very neat, they lacked momentum. Just like vegetables that had been exposed to the sun for a long time in summer, the soldiers were listless and exhausted.

Anyone who is an expert can see the condition of the Tang army at a glance. This is because the army has been fighting continuously and the soldiers have been in a tense state of combat readiness for a long time without any chance to rest, so they look very tired.

Gao Yuanbao's second son Gao Zeng's eyes lit up, and he quickly said to his father: "Father, the enemy army is in low morale and exhausted. This is our chance to defeat the Tang army."

Gao Yuanbao was also a little tempted. He asked his eldest son Gao Cang, "What do you think?"

Gao Cang also felt that it was an opportunity, but he didn't want to agree with his brother. He thought for a moment and said, "Don't be impatient. Wait a little longer and see what they intend to do!"

At this time, a cavalryman ran up and shot a letter. A soldier picked up the letter and ran to give it to Gao Yuanbao. Gao Yuanbao took the letter and saw that it said, "Li Sheng, the commander-in-chief of the Tang Dynasty, to the leader of the Goguryeo tribe."

Gao Cang and Gao Zeng were immediately furious. They actually called their father the leader of the Goguryeo tribe. It should be the leader of the Goguryeo royal family. Without the word "king", the meaning is completely different, just like the difference between the King of Youzhou and the King of Youzhou Mountain, which is like the difference between heaven and earth.

Gao Yuanbao felt extremely insulted. He said coldly, "You are just a commanding general, not even a commander-in-chief. Do you have the qualifications to persuade me to surrender?"

Quan Hongtai beside him smiled and said, "Why not take advantage of his own strategy? We pretend to surrender and kill him by surprise."

"This is a great plan!"

Lu Changsong gave a thumbs up and praised: "The forces of both sides are about the same. If we use more strategies, we will win this battle!"

Gao Yuanbao nodded happily. When Emperor Yang of Sui led an army of 600,000 to conquer Goguryeo, didn't his ancestors defeat the Sui army time and time again by pretending to surrender?
The eldest son Gao Cang took the lead and said, "My son is willing to implement the strategy of feigning surrender and lead the army to defeat the enemy."

The second son Gao Zeng was anxious and said quickly: "If you want to lead the troops to fight, you have to rely on me. I will not only defeat the enemy, but also annihilate the Tang army!"

Gao Yuanbao didn't want to see his two sons fighting for power, so he waved his hand and said, "It takes two people to fake surrender. Dalang will lead 10,000 soldiers to pretend to surrender, so that the enemy will relax. Erlang will lead another 10,000 soldiers to go out from the east gate and kill the Tang army by surprise."

Gao Cang said with some dissatisfaction: "My men have surrendered their weapons. If there is chaos, won't they be slaughtered by the enemy?"

Quan Hongtai smiled and said, "Don't worry, young master. We have a solution. Don't we have tens of thousands of sacrificial white robes? Let the soldiers wear white robes and armor inside to hide their weapons. Once Erlang leads his army to attack, you can take off the white robes and go into battle."

Gao Cang had no choice but to nod.

Gao Yuanbao immediately wrote a letter of surrender and ordered someone to send it out of the city.

Li Sheng received a letter of surrender, which read: "I, Gao Yuanbao, a commoner, write to General Li Sheng, the Commanding General under the Regent of the Tang Dynasty."
This sentence is not easy to read, the key is the addition of the four words "Commanding General".

Li Sheng laughed. This was an emotional surrender letter! He deliberately pointed out that his official position was too low and he was not worthy of accepting their surrender.

Deputy General Zhang Heng stepped forward and asked, "Does the other party really want to surrender?"

"How is that possible? If you want to surrender, you should surrender to His Royal Highness the Regent. What's the point of surrendering to me, the Commanding General?"

"So they are still pretending to surrender?"

"It's obvious that they think they are very strategic and that everyone else is a fool. Your Highness said they are arrogant. I finally understand that their arrogance is not to elevate themselves, but to belittle others."

Li Sheng sneered and said, "Act according to the original plan!"

"I obey your orders!" Zhang Heng hurried away
Half an hour later, the north gate opened wide and teams of soldiers in loose white robes came out to surrender.

At this time, the Tang army also behaved very lazily, sitting on the ground in groups of three or four.

Gao Yuanbao on the top of the city wall was extremely nervous. This was indeed an opportunity. He must not be discovered by the enemy. Whether he could turn the tables depended on whether he could seize this opportunity.

At this time, 15,000 troops rushed out from the east gate with great force and attacked the Tang army in the north city.

The Tang army was caught off guard and had no time to regroup. Li Sheng shouted urgently, "Retreat! Retreat!"

"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"

The retreat gong sounded urgently, and the Tang army was in chaos. They turned around and fled, and everyone rushed to escape desperately.

Both Gao Zeng and Gao Cang had experience. They could see that the Tang army was in chaos and retreating. Gao Zeng shouted loudly: "Kill one Tang soldier and you will be rewarded 100 strings of cash!"

The Goguryeo soldiers were so greedy that they ran after them desperately.

Gao Cang was also anxious. He was afraid that his brothers would take away the first credit. He drew his sword and shouted, "Kill one Tang soldier and I will reward you with 200 strings of cash. Go after him!"

Ten thousand surrendered soldiers tore off their white robes, revealing their armor and swords. Stimulated by the huge reward, ten thousand Goguryeo soldiers also ran after them.

So much so that a strange spectacle appeared on the earth: looking from high above, an army of 20,000 men was running wildly for their lives in the front, and a hundred steps behind, two armies of 10,000 men were chasing them relentlessly. The three armies looked like a Chinese character "品" from a distance, but if you looked closely, you could see that the three armies had lost their formation and were stirring up a cloud of dust.

The Tang soldiers tried their best to escape, but the Goguryeo soldiers chased them relentlessly. They ran nearly twenty miles in one breath. When the Goguryeo soldiers were almost exhausted, they saw three cavalry forces of ten thousand people coming at them from three directions.

The 30,000 cavalrymen led by General Xi Wanli were fierce and powerful. The sound of horse hooves was like thunder, and the dense flags were like the Yellow River bursting its banks, rolling up waves several feet high, and charging towards the 20,000 Goguryeo soldiers.

Gao Zeng was so frightened that his legs went limp, and he cried out in tears, "Retreat! Retreat!"

Gao Cang also realized that they had fallen into a trap, and he also shouted anxiously: "Order the entire army to retreat, everyone return to the city immediately."

The Goguryeo soldiers were exhausted and could not even run. They all struggled to escape back, but it was useless. The cavalry instantly rushed into the crowd and started a bloody massacre.

This was a ruthless massacre that took no prisoners; the brothers Gao Cang and Gao Zeng also had their heads chopped off by the cavalry.

The 20,000 Tang troops who had originally fled began to regroup in a distance. In order to lure the enemy out of their hole and pretend to be defeated, they unfortunately lost hundreds of brothers.

At this moment, seeing the 20,000 Goguryeo soldiers being surrounded and slaughtered, all the Tang soldiers breathed a sigh of relief.

The massacre lasted for more than half an hour, and all 20,000 Goguryeo soldiers were killed. Kneeling on the ground and surrendering was of no use. In order to solve this cancer that has been entrenched in Youzhou for nearly a hundred years, Li Ye decided to use the most iron-blooded means to kill all resisters and eliminate all hidden dangers. Any leniency would be irresponsible to future generations.

Gao Yuanbao already felt something was wrong. His army had been chasing for too long and there was no news at all. He sent people to check, but there was no response. Could something have happened to the army?
He was really worried. At this moment, someone came to report, "Master, it's bad. There are many Tang soldiers outside the city, at least 50,000 to 60,000 people.

Gao Yuanbao seemed to have stepped on empty air and fell into a bottomless abyss.

(End of this chapter)