Chapter 570: Fierce Battle in Pyongyang

Chapter 570: Fierce Battle in Pyongyang

Chapter 570: Fierce Battle in Pyongyang

Xiao Xia received news from Shen Guang that the imperial army had finally captured Liaodong City and began to move south.

Xiao Xia was waiting for this news. He immediately gave the order to end the cleanup on the south bank of the Taedong River. He led an army of 40,000 across the Taedong River on a pontoon bridge and arrived at the north bank.

Goguryeo's King Yeongyang Gao Yuan knew that the Sui army had destroyed all of his handicrafts on the south bank, two shipyards had been burned down, and a large amount of property and strategic resources such as copper and iron had been stolen.

Gao Yuan was already extremely angry, and he was just waiting for the moment when the Sui army would land.

Gao Yuan personally led an army of 100,000 out of the city to fight.

The two sides formed their battle formations on the field south of Pyongyang City. With an army of 100,000 against an army of 40,000, Goguryeo had the advantage in terms of manpower, not to mention they also had 10,000 cavalry. Gao Yuan was determined to win this battle.

But judging from the equipment, the Sui army was far stronger than the Goguryeo army. The Goguryeo army's weapons were mainly spears, with swords for close combat, and their armor was ordinary single-layer leather armor.

The Sui army was all wearing Ming Guang armor, and all 40,000 of them were armed with lances, flails, and swords. In addition, all of them were crossbowmen. More importantly, the Sui army had two mysterious branches of the army, one was 3,000 heavy armored infantry, and the other was 2,000 throwing soldiers.

Xiao Xia was also determined to win this battle.

The autumn wind was fierce in the wilderness, dark clouds were hanging low, and the strong wind made the battle flags snap.

Gao Yuan narrowed his eyes and looked at the enemy's formation. The enemy had no cavalry, and he felt proud. He shouted, "Cavalry, attack the Sui army's formation from the side."

Gao Yuan knew very well that attacking from the front would easily lead to being attacked by the powerful arrow formation of the Sui army, and attacking from the side would be the most advantageous.

"As ordered!"

Gao Jianwu also blew a series of horns, which was the order for the cavalry to attack. Ten thousand Goguryeo cavalrymen set off, and thousands of horses galloped, following him to fight against the Sui army a mile away.

Xiao Xia's army was changing formations quickly. The enemy did not attack head-on, so Xiao Xia ordered, "Heavy armored infantry, meet the enemy!"

Armored cavalry equipment was a feature of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and was also the main combat force of the Sui Dynasty. The Sui Dynasty used the whole country's strength to build 5,000 sets of armored cavalry equipment. It was not that the iron production of the Sui Dynasty was not high, so it could only build 5,000 sets of heavy armor for men and horses, but it was very difficult to find war horses that could withstand such weight.

It is not easy to find five thousand of these special war horses among hundreds of thousands of war horses.

These 5,000 armored cavalry were also brought to Goguryeo, but they were of no use at all.

Xiao Xia couldn't find such a strong warhorse, so he could only settle for the next best thing and build heavy armored infantry. He selected three thousand tall soldiers, put on heavy armor, and held swords and spears.

This was the predecessor of the Tang Dynasty's Modao Army, but it took Xiao Xia three full years and five hundred thousand strings of cash to build these three thousand heavily armored infantrymen. A set of heavy armor and a sword and lance made with the sandwich steel method cost one hundred and fifty strings of cash alone.

The general who led this heavy armored infantry was called Xiao Tiancheng, from the Xiao family of Piliang. He was a fierce general from the Xiao family of Piliang.

His swordsmanship is average, but he has great strength, is nearly two meters tall, and has a majestic physique, like a god. He was discovered by Pei Renji, the governor of Piling County, who trained him carefully and recommended him to Xiao Xia last year.

Xiao Xia took a liking to him at first sight and trained him to be the commander of the heavy armored infantry.

Xiao Tiancheng led three thousand heavily armored infantrymen to fight. They knelt on one knee, supported themselves on the ground with the butt of their spears, and pointed the spear blades forward at a 45-degree angle. The sharp and hard spear blades gleamed in the sun.

The ten thousand Goguryeo cavalrymen came closer and closer, and finally collided with the three thousand heavily armored infantrymen of the Sui army. The three thousand heavily armored infantrymen were like a reef in the sea.

The waves hit the rocks and surged into the sky, but the reef remained motionless.

The sharp lance blades pierced through the bodies of countless cavalrymen and horses, causing screams to rang out immediately. The cavalrymen rushed forward one after another and all died under the lance blades. In just one round of charge, thousands of cavalrymen died in front of the sharp lance formation and piled up.

Three thousand heavily armored infantrymen shouted loudly, and under the leadership of their chief general Xiao Tiancheng, they lined up to form a wall, brandishing their swords and spears to kill the cavalry. The swords and spears were extremely sharp, killing the cavalry with blood and flesh flying everywhere, and they retreated step by step. Seeing that the cavalry could not break through the formation of 3,000 Sui troops, Gao Yuan was furious and shouted, "All troops, attack!"

The remaining 90,000 troops shouted and rushed towards the Sui army formation.

Xiao Xia shouted, "Everyone, form a crossbow formation!"

Command flags were waving, war drums were beating, and 35,000 Sui army soldiers quickly formed a large crossbow formation.

The 90,000-strong Goguryeo army rushed over. The Goguryeo people would not fight the Sui army in a one-on-one fight. Their advantage was their large numbers. Of course, they fully utilized their greatest advantage and used human wave tactics to overwhelm the Sui army.

"Prepare the bows and crossbows!" Xiao Xia ordered coldly.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Thirty-five thousand soldiers squatted down, raised their crossbows, and pointed them diagonally upwards at the sky.

The Goguryeo army surged in like a tide, with great momentum, getting closer and closer, and was more than two hundred steps away.

"Shoot!" Xiao Xia gave the order.

"Woo——"

The trumpet blasts loudly, the drum is the order to prepare, the trumpet is the order to act
Thirty-five thousand military crossbows fired at the same time, and a large number of arrows flew into the air. The overwhelming arrows whistled like a rainstorm and shot towards the oncoming Sui cavalry. The arrows were like dense rain. Two hundred steps away, the Goguryeo soldiers screamed in fear. In the dense rain of arrows, countless Goguryeo soldiers were shot down. Some soldiers fell down after being shot by arrows, and some soldiers rolled to the ground after being shot by arrows. There were constant shouting and screaming.

After only one round of crossbow arrows, seven or eight thousand Goguryeo soldiers were shot down. Their leather armor could not withstand the powerful armor-piercing crossbow arrows.

Countless Goguryeo soldiers were frightened by the powerful crossbow arrows and turned around and fled in panic, but Gao Yuan was well prepared. He had five thousand swordsmen and axemen guarding the rear. Anyone who dared to escape would be hacked to death with a single blow.

Under the threat of the swordsmen, although the Goguryeo soldiers were extremely terrified, they still had to bite the bullet and continue the attack.

The Sui army fired a second round of crossbow arrows, which shot into the Goguryeo crowd like a rainstorm, and blood splattered again. Soldiers fell down with screams, and another six or seven thousand people were shot down.

Then came the third and fourth rounds...
After firing four rounds, the enemy army had appeared fifty steps away, and the number of troops had dropped sharply from 90,000 to 70,000, outnumbering the Sui army by two to one, and the advantage was no longer obvious.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The war drums sounded.

The Sui army began to change their formation. Bows and crossbows were put away, soldiers picked up lances, and the distance between soldiers increased. The originally tight formation of the Sui army began to expand rapidly.

The two armies finally collided. Luo Shixin roared and swung his big iron spear to knock an enemy general away. The iron spear flew left and right, and corpses rolled on the tip of his spear. The Sui soldiers and Goguryeo soldiers fought a desperate battle in the wilderness.

This was a fierce battle in which both sides had their own advantages, a decisive battle between elite equipment and human wave tactics.

It's like three thousand heavily armored infantrymen killing ten thousand cavalrymen and making them retreat step by step.

The Goguryeo army was also unable to withstand the impact of the Sui army's large formation.

But the first to be defeated were the Goguryeo cavalry. Under the stabbing and slashing of the two-meter-long swords and spears of the heavy armored infantry, the legs of the horses were cut off one after another, and the horses fell to the ground screaming in pain.

The Goguryeo cavalry, without the advantage of cavalry's superiority in front of the heavy armored infantry, was like a flock of sheep without the protection of shepherds and hunting dogs, and could only be devoured by wild beasts. The heavy armored infantry killed the war horses mercilessly, and no matter how the soldiers who fell off their horses cried and begged for mercy, they would show no mercy and cut them in two with a single sword.

The pungent stench of human internal organs filled the battlefield. The bloody and horrific battlefield frightened the usually pampered Royal Cavalry out of their wits, and the remaining thousands turned their horses around and fled in all directions.

(End of this chapter)