Chapter 443 White Rock City

Li Xiang took a short rest for a day. After all, he had traveled a long distance on the road. Even his men, including those who were made of iron, had to take a good rest now. Otherwise, they would not be able to exert 100% combat effectiveness on the battlefield. Simply The rest time can restore our combat effectiveness, and we can solve the battle faster during the battle. This is the skill of sharpening the sword and chopping firewood without missing a beat.

Of course, Li Xiang's energy was very strong. When other soldiers were resting the next day, Li Xiang and Su Dingfang were already inspecting the battlefield with their men. Su Dingfang could see the area in front of him with his eyes closed. Li Xiang introduces.

"Commander, since the people of Goguryeo knew that we were going to attack them, a large number of troops have withdrawn to the south of the Datong River. If I am not wrong in my estimation, the people of Goguryeo should be ready to abandon the land north of the Datong River."

Su Dingfang pointed to the large area of ​​wasteland in front of him and said, two years ago, this was the most important grain producing area in Goguryeo, supplying the rice bowls of millions of people in Goguryeo every year. However, because of our harassment, this place has been deserted for more than a year. .

"It's a normal thing. If they hadn't lied, they might have continued to fight with us. They were still imagining that they were blessed by gods and could repel our army. They must have woken up now. Please introduce it emphatically. Go to the city in Jiangbei."

To the north of the Datong River, the Goguryeo people did not form an effective line of defense. Instead, they built small cities one after another. Relying on the mutual horns between the small cities, they withstood the attacks of Emperor Sui Yang and Li Shimin again and again. attack.

It has to be said that there is nothing wrong with Goguryeo's strategy. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty and Li Shimin were both very successful. When they attacked Goguryeo, they had to push forward with overwhelming force. No city could be left behind. But in Leng Weapon In the 1960s, as long as there were cities with walls, they were basically easy to defend and difficult to attack. After all, there were no large-scale siege equipment in this era, so you could only fill them with human lives.

At the beginning, the morale of all the soldiers was high, and they did not care about the casualties of their own team. As long as they could capture a city, it was a victory. But as the war went on, the number of casualties became higher and higher. Some people I'm afraid we can't hold on anymore. At this time, the Goguryeo people sneak attack from behind, and our army will be in chaos.

Before Li Xiang set out from the capital, he had thoroughly studied the two battles in history. Goguryeo relied on these cities to block the Tang army's advance, and then slowly wore away the Tang army's vigor. When the Tang army's morale dropped, , they only need a small counterattack, then the morale of the Tang army will be even lower.

Although it was not yet a defeat, Li Shimin also understood at that time that there was basically no hope of continuing to attack with such a demoralized army. Apart from increasing casualties to the Tang disciples, there would be no good effect, so Li Shimin could only make a decisive decision and return to the court.

Strictly speaking, it is not a defeat, but our rulers are more rational and think that there is no benefit in continuing to fight. Of course, it was indeed a defeat during the Sui Yang Emperor's period.

"Commander, they originally had thirteen small towns in Jiangbei. According to our investigation, during the retreat some time ago, they have already retreated half of them, and there are still six small towns left. Even so, their defense It's not enough, there were originally three thousand soldiers in each small town, but now it's estimated that there are less than two thousand, and food supplies are also insufficient, and the combat effectiveness has dropped by more than half."

Although he was unable to attack with the main force, Su Dingfang was not idle during this period of time. His people were all staring at the Koryo cities north of the Datong River. These cities were not established for a long time, only about twenty or thirty years at most. There are not many ordinary people living there, but the city wall is extremely strong. This is one of the reasons why Li Shimin was unable to attack it for a long time last time.

The most important city is Anshi City, which is the second largest stronghold north of the Datong River. The first largest stronghold is Liaodong City. The last time Li Shimin attacked, he occupied Liaodong City as quickly as possible. Currently, the entire Liaodong City It has been burned down, so the number one stronghold is still the original Anshi City.

According to Su Dingfang's current investigation results, there are only three cities in the entire area north of the Datong River that we need to pay attention to. One city is naturally the hard-core Anshi City, and the other two are Baiyan City and Wugu City.

The last time Li Shimin attacked, these three cities plus Liaodong City formed the entire defense line of Goguryeo in the north. Each city had more than 15,000 troops stationed in it. Coupled with the large number of ordinary people in the city, their actual strength The combat strength must be more than 20,000, so Li Shimin must press forward step by step, one blow at a time.

But now there is no need for it. According to what Su Dingfang said, there are two thousand soldiers in each city. Of course, there will be a large number of brave soldiers in the city. These people are not trained at ordinary times. During the war, they can be pulled up to the tower at will. In fact, they can't do much. role.

Li Xiang looked at the strongholds one by one on the map with a smile on his face.

"The attack will begin in three days, and Baiyan City and Wugu City will be captured within five days, and then the troops will be directed towards Anshi City."

"I obey my orders."

Without detailed discussion, Li Xiang had already issued the battle order, and Su Dingfang and his generals did not refute it. It is true that these cities are already too weak. If we still need to study for a while to attack these cities, then We people really have nothing to say. We are really embarrassing to Datang.

On this land, there were more spies scattered in Goguryeo. They thought that the Tang army would delay its attack for a while. Who knew that on a sunny morning, 25,000 Tang troops arrived at Baiyan City.

Many Goguryeo spies did not understand what was going on. They originally thought that the Tang army came to the Goguryeo land to cause trouble as before, but this army was a little different from the previous ones because this army carried a large number of crossbows. .

"Commander, could this be the ballista used to force Tuyuhun to surrender?"

Su Dingfang and his men also saw these things. Although Goguryeo is relatively weak now, if it relies solely on human lives to attack the city, there will be one or two thousand casualties in a city, but if there are these things , we won’t have to sacrifice these two thousand lives...