Chapter 571: Rise of the East and Decline of the West

Chapter 571: Rise of the East and Decline of the West

Chapter 571: Rise of the East and Decline of the West
When the cavalry commander Gao Jianwu saw that the cavalry had been defeated, he shouted anxiously, "Don't run away! Hold on!"

There was no point in shouting anymore. Nearly half of the cavalry had been killed or wounded, and their morale had collapsed.

The remaining 5,000 cavalrymen were in low morale. They were all sons of Pyongyang nobles, usually dressed in fine clothes and riding horses, arrogant and proud. This was their first actual combat, they lacked willpower and were not in good physical condition. The galloping of their horses made them dizzy, and their reaction speed and strength were unable to withstand the high-intensity war.

What was even worse was that the bloody killings had already made them feel terrified. The pungent smell of blood, the heads, limbs and internal organs all over the ground were like hell, which made them extremely terrified.

No matter how the commander shouted and cursed, the remaining cavalry fled for their lives.

The Sui army's heavy armored infantry turned to the enemy infantry.

Fierce battles took place everywhere in the wilderness. In the infantry melee, Luo Shixin wielded a large iron spear with unparalleled bravery. He rode a majestic warhorse, his arms had the strength of a thousand pounds, and he wielded the large iron spear like a ghost. Anyone who blocked his way would die, and anyone who tried to stop him would perish. He was invincible, killing the enemy troops and leaving corpses all over the field, staining the field red with blood.

"Your Highness! The enemy cavalry has been defeated!" Lai Huer shouted.

The rout of the cavalry was bound to cause the morale of the infantry to destabilize, and the time was ripe.

Xiao Xia immediately ordered: "Order the throwing soldiers to attack!"

"Woo--" The horn in the Sui army sounded again, and two thousand throwing soldiers appeared. Xiao Xia's throwing soldiers were also his trump card. Each of them had strong arm strength, which was the most important basic ability of a throwing soldier.

The throwing soldiers lit the fuse and threw three-jin iron fire bombs into the enemy crowd thirty steps away.

It is like the hand grenade of later generations, but more fierce than the hand grenade. The iron fire bomb is equipped with two hundred tiny poisoned iron nails. Once hit, it is impossible to remove it. Once the poison attacks the heart, the life will be in danger.

When fighting at home, Xiao Xia did not allow the use of poisoned iron nails, but against alien races, he used them without hesitation.

Each throwing soldier has five iron fire mines, which are usually carried on his back. The shape of the fire mines is like a plum vase, with a slender handle.

Two thousand iron fire mines exploded one after another in the enemy crowd, iron nails flew everywhere, smoke filled the air, and the Goguryeo soldiers were blown to pieces, with many soldiers being blown flying.

There were cries of pain and soldiers shouting in fear everywhere. All the Goguryeo soldiers were terrified as their morale was already unstable due to the disastrous defeat of the cavalry.

The explosion of two thousand iron fire bombs undoubtedly completely crushed the morale of the army. Tens of thousands of Goguryeo soldiers turned around and fled. Five thousand swordsmen and axemen were unable to stop the fleeing soldiers, and many of them were instead hacked to death by the angry soldiers.

The Goguryeo army was defeated. Xiao Xia drew his sword and shouted, "Go after the enemy!"

"Woo——"

A loud horn sounded, and the Sui army burst into earth-shaking shouts, chasing the Goguryeo soldiers from behind. Tens of thousands of Goguryeo soldiers were killed or captured. Gao Jianwu was captured alive by Luo Shixin while fleeing, and Yingyang King Gao Yuan fled north in panic with thousands of people.

The Sui army only chased for more than 20 miles before withdrawing. At this time, the gates of Pyongyang were wide open, and dozens of ministers who had no time to escape opened the city to surrender. More than one hundred royal family members all became Xiao Xia's prisoners of war.

The civilian camp was about thirty miles away from the Liao River. It was short of water and food, and was dirty and messy. Coupled with the high temperature in summer, the civilian camp became a living hell. Every day, a large number of corpses were carried out for burial. The army was unable to take care of themselves, and no one cared about their lives. The war was not going well, which made Emperor Yang Guang upset and he didn't care about the situation of the civilians.

Duan Wenzhen told Emperor Yang Guang that the death toll of civilians had exceeded 10%, which was definitely an exaggerated figure and the actual number was far higher.

In the extremely harsh environment, the most terrible thing finally happened. A plague broke out in the labor camp. Overnight, tens of thousands of laborers suffered from vomiting and diarrhea, and the disease was spread from one tent to another. A camp was crowded with hundreds of laborers, and only one person was infected. The entire tent would be unable to escape and everyone would be infected.

The officials tried their best to conceal the truth, using the excuse of acclimatization. They not only concealed the truth from their superiors, but also from the civilians. However, the truth could not be hidden. As more and more civilians died, more and more civilians were infected with the plague. More than 30% of the civilians were infected, and piles of corpses were burned everywhere in the camp.

Extreme fear spread in the camp of civilians, and a large number of people began to flee. More than 200,000 people fled in one day and one night. The 20,000 soldiers who were guarding the civilians also began to be infected in large numbers. The soldiers did not care. The officials could no longer conceal it and had to report it to their superiors, but they refused to mention how many people died, how many people fled, and how many people were left.

The report was passed up layer by layer and finally reached the emperor.

Only then did Yang Guang learn that a plague had broken out in the civilian camp. He was shocked. You know, in the 17th year of Kaihuang, the 300,000-strong army's expedition against Goguryeo was abandoned halfway because of the outbreak of the plague.

What’s even more terrible is that 100,000 laborers had just transported food into Goguryeo seven days ago. Have any of these laborers also been infected with the plague?

Yang Guang realized the seriousness of the problem. He immediately called Duan Wenzhen and said to him anxiously, "Lord Duan, go to the civilian camp and find out how serious the situation is. Arrest all the officials who concealed the situation. I will punish them severely!"

"The minister obeys the order!"

Duan Wenzhen left in a hurry. Yang Guang was upset and paced back and forth in the tent with his hands behind his back. He almost stayed awake all night.

At the same time, the 200,000-strong Sui army had crossed the Yalu River and reached the north bank of the Qingchuan River, but they could no longer move south. Their food was about to run out, but the grain transport teams were nowhere to be found, causing Yu Zhongwen to stamp his feet in anxiety.

Logically, each of their soldiers carried 30 kilograms of food. Since only ten days had passed, there should have been a lot of food left. But in fact, most of the soldiers could not bear the weight and secretly threw away the food on the march, resulting in many military camps being out of food. Yu Zhongwen and Yang Yichen found that on average each soldier only had three or four kilograms of food left.

Inside the big tent, Yu Zhongwen and Yang Yichen urgently discussed countermeasures.

Yang Yichen said anxiously: "We must turn back immediately. What I am worried about is that we will run out of food halfway through the journey. What should we do?"

Yu Zhongwen thought for a moment and said, "I think the logistics team is already on the way. If we hurry back now, we might run into them on the way!"

"I hope the old general's words will come true!"

Both men agreed that the troops must be withdrawn immediately.

That afternoon, the 200,000-strong army began to turn around and retreat.

Emperor Yang Guang initially strictly prohibited the army from marching south rashly, which resulted in the loss of many opportunities for battle. But when he needed to be cautious, he ordered 200,000 troops to march south quickly to attack Pyongyang, completely ignoring the whereabouts of Goguryeo's army of more than 100,000.

In fact, the Goguryeo army commander Yi Zhiwende led more than 100,000 troops at no time. When Yu Zhongwen and Yang Yichen led 20 troops to the south, Yi Zhiwende led more than 100,000 Goguryeo troops behind them.
Yu Zhongwen and Yang Yichen could never have dreamed that the logistics transport team they had been longing for was attacked by Goguryeo, the 20,000-strong grain protection team was completely wiped out, and 100,000 civilians became prisoners of the Goryeo army.

Three days later, the food supply of the 200,000 Sui troops was cut off and the army fell into panic. They began to scramble to cross the Yalu River to the north. At this time, Yizhi Wende personally led an army of 100,000 to wait for them on the north bank.

In the afternoon, when the army had just crossed half of the river, drums suddenly sounded on the north bank. One hundred thousand Goguryeo troops came from all directions. The Sui army on the north bank collapsed instantly. The soldiers scrambled to flee south, trampling on each other. Countless people were pushed off the pontoon bridge into the water and were swept away by the rapids.

The pontoon bridge suddenly broke, and thousands of people on the bridge fell into the water. Tens of thousands of soldiers on the north bank had nowhere to escape and could only kneel down and beg for mercy crying.

But even the soldiers on the south bank could not escape the disaster. Two days later, the Sui army's food supply was completely cut off, and Yu Zhongwen and Yang Yichen were forced to lead their troops to surrender to Goguryeo.

A total of 220,000 troops and 100,000 civilians were wiped out. If the 100,000 soldiers who died in the previous battle are included, a total of 320,000 troops were wiped out in this Eastern Expedition.

Only 180,000 people were left out of the 500,000-strong army.

(End of this chapter)