Tibet.

Chapter 1267 Night Attack on Yuyang
The city gates were wide open. Gao Yuanbao, with disheveled hair and wearing white clothes, came out to surrender with his wives, concubines and several grandchildren. Following him were the Quan family, the Lu family and the Pei family. These were the four major families of Goguryeo in Pingzhou, belonging to the ruling class. Of course, there were also some small and medium-sized families, but they did not have much influence. It was mainly these four major families that ruled the Goguryeo people in Pingzhou.

"Gao Yuanbao, the guilty minister, has betrayed the grace of heaven and deserves death"

Gao Yuanbao's voice trembled. He had already guessed the fate of his two sons, which made him feel heartbroken.

At this time, the chief general who came forward became Guo Ziyi. He said calmly: "All the people in the world are subjects of the king. There is no Goguryeo in the world, only the people of the Tang Dynasty. You have trained the army without authorization and resisted the court. This is indeed a serious crime. I have no power to punish you. I can only send you to Chang'an to be decided by the court."

He waved his hand and ordered, "Take them away!"

Hundreds of soldiers stepped forward, took all the more than 100 people from the four major families onto the pre-prepared carriages, and escorted them away. From then on, no one knew about them anymore. Perhaps they died, or perhaps they were exiled to the distant Western Regions.

The army entered the city and asked all Goguryeo people to pack up their things and gather outside the city, and they would be sent to Youzhou.

The city was suddenly filled with cries. Some people were crying because their sons and husbands died in battle, and more people were crying because they were driven out of their homes.

Guo Ziyi's heart was as hard as iron, without any mercy at all. He also knew that the Goguryeo issue had to be resolved once and for all, otherwise disaster would occur sooner or later.

Teams of common people, carrying the elderly and children and holding large and small bags, were driven out of Pinglu City. Basically all the Goguryeo people in Pingzhou lived in Pinglu City. This was a measure taken by their ruling class for the convenience of management. They drove out all the Han people in the city and moved all the Goguryeo people scattered around the city into the city.

In the end, it made it easier for the Tang army to clean up the people. There were a total of more than 180,000 people, less than 200,000, about 40,000 families, and an average of one soldier for every two families, forming an army of 20,000 people.

Now all 20,000 soldiers have been killed, leaving only more than 10,000 young and strong men, and the rest are almost all the elderly, the weak, women and children.

The procession moved slowly, with thousands of carts filled with old people and children, who had left their homes in despair.

Just a few days after the Goguryeo people were cleared out of the city, Han people living in various parts of Pingzhou rushed into Pinglu County to seize houses and search for property. Soon, they became the new masters of Pinglu County.

This is the historical cycle of every city, wave after wave, the old are cleared out and new people come in. As the saying goes, "the camp remains permanent, but the soldiers come and go", this is the truth.

Don't expect that the city you live in will have traces of several generations of ancestors. In fact, it is only a few generations. It may be longer now. In times of war, human life is like leeks, which grow again after being cut.

Two hundred thousand Goguryeo people lined up in a long queue and were escorted to the Youzhou refugee camp.

But they were lucky, for they met the kind-hearted Guo Ziyi. While sticking to his principles, Guo Ziyi also tried not to mistreat the people. He let the elderly and children sit on carts, while the other young and middle-aged people walked on foot, with food distributed by the Tang army along the way.

The team rested for a night, and early the next morning, 200,000 people continued their journey westward. At this time, the only Tang army escorting them was the 20,000 troops led by Li Sheng.

Guo Ziyi led 30,000 cavalrymen north to Yuyang.

Two days later, two armies of 30,000 people met in the south of Yuyang County, which meant that the final annihilation battle was about to begin.

On the table in the big tent was a model of Yuyang County, which was brought by Lai Zhen and was also given to him by Li Ye who sent someone from Youzhou.

Guo Ziyi carefully examined the county model. Yuyang County was at most a medium-sized county that could accommodate only tens of thousands of people. Now there were 30,000 troops crammed in, plus a small number of Goguryeo people living in Jizhou.

There shouldn't be too many Han people in the city.

"Is there any specific information?" Guo Ziyi asked.

"Have!"

Lai Zhen handed a piece of information to Guo Ziyi, "This was brought to us by an official named Fu Yuangui in the city."

Guo Ziyi took the intelligence and took a look. There were less than a thousand Han people in the city, only a few hundred. They were basically the families and servants of officials. There were no ordinary people left.

"Is Fu Yuangui still in the city?" Guo Ziyi asked.

Lai Zhen laughed in surprise and said, "He should be in Pinglu County! He followed his superior Wang Zuyou to Pinglu County for negotiations. Didn't the old general meet him?"

Guo Ziyi shook his head. "We haven't met Zhu Ci's officials since Pinglu County surrendered. They should have left Pingzhou and returned."

"no!"

Lai Zhen said confidently: "In fact, all the official roads leading to Yuyang County have been blocked by the scouts I sent. If they come back, I will definitely find them. Fu Yuangui should not come back. It is possible that they went to Youzhou."

Guo Ziyi said slowly: "Don't worry about him, let's attack Yuyang County tonight!" The battle plan for Yuyang County had been formulated long ago. This plan was called "Burning the City with Fiery Fire". As the name suggests, it means to burn Yuyang City, force the enemy troops in the city to rush out, and then use cavalry to wipe them out.

Although this plan will cause harm to the people in the city, there is no other way. This is war. War is the cruelest social elimination. Only the strong can survive.

What's more, Zhu Ci's idea of ​​driving away the people and exchanging soldiers drove away most of the people, which helped the Tang army a lot.

At two o'clock in the morning, 60,000 Tang troops surrounded Yuyang County from all directions. The cavalry was responsible for blocking the city gates. Yuyang County had only two city gates, north and south, which had been completely blocked by the cavalry.

Thirty thousand infantrymen approached the city wall, about two hundred steps away, and raised their crossbows together, aiming gunpowder arrows at the city.

At this moment, Zhu Ci, who was sleeping soundly, was awakened by a violent knock on the door.

"What's the matter?" Zhu Ci asked angrily.

"My lord, tens of thousands of Tang troops are about to attack the city!"

This sentence was like a bucket of cold water poured over his face. Zhu Ci sat up suddenly and asked in fear, "Does General Li Chenglie know?"

"He knows, and he's already deploying defenses!"

Li Chenglie was Zhu Ci's deputy general, a Xi general, and a former subordinate of Shi Siming. He had rich practical experience.

Zhu Ci breathed a sigh of relief and said to the concubines sleeping beside him, "Hurry up and put on your armor. I want to go up to the city!"

The women hurriedly helped Zhu Ci put on his clothes and put on the proper attire. Zhu Ci then left the mansion and mounted his horse.

At this moment, a string of bright red light rose up in the sky. Zhu Ci was stunned for a moment. What was this?
Then, flames appeared in the air from all directions and flew towards the city. Balls of fire rushed into the city, and the whole city was on fire.

Zhu Ci was horrified and shouted, "Ring the alarm bell! Everyone get up!"

"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"

Alarm bells rang loudly in Yuyang County. At the same time, the second round of gunpowder arrows flew into the city. A total of 60,000 gunpowder arrows had entered the city, and fires broke out everywhere in the city.

At this time, sixty large catapults rumbled forward, their target being the defenders on the city wall.

When the whole city is on fire, the city wall is the only place to escape.

Thirty thousand Tang soldiers fired gunpowder arrows into the city in an orderly manner. Although the soldiers on the city walls also shot arrows back at the Tang army, it was basically ineffective.

The Tang army was in a scattered position, it was night, and the distance was far. Even if the arrows could hit them from 250 steps away, they would be too weak to penetrate the armor and helmets of the Tang soldiers.

Sixty large catapults also began to fire, throwing burning clay pots filled with kerosene toward the top of the city. In an instant, fires broke out everywhere on the city wall, even igniting the kerosene pots stored by the defenders on the city wall.

In fact, the raging fire was not the most terrifying thing. The thick smoke was the most deadly threat. An hour later, the entire Yuyang County was shrouded in billowing smoke.

The south gate suddenly opened, and a large number of Khitan soldiers stumbled out, covering their mouths and noses. There were more than 4,000 of them. They would not suffocate to death in the city, nor would they obey orders.

Four thousand Khitan soldiers began to break out for their lives. They ran desperately, and the rest broke through the blockade of the Tang army.

But what greeted them was the ruthless killing by the Tang cavalry.

The reason is very simple. The last 10,000 troops following Zhu Ci were all Hu people. Then there were 10,000 Goguryeo troops, which were Goguryeo troops from Jizhou. The main general was Wang Siyi, the former commander of the Plum Blossom Guard who fled back to Jizhou from Luoyang, and the brother of the general Wang Sili.

Finally, there were 10,000 Khitan troops, who were the vanguard of the Khitans' attempt to seize Youzhou. Their joining Zhu Ci's army also reflected the Khitans' support for Zhu Ci.

The Tang army will not accept the surrender of these 30,000 troops and will definitely kill them all.

Xi Wanli shouted, "Send an order to the entire army. If you do not accept surrender, kill them all!"

(End of this chapter)