Chapter 572 Crisis Spreads
Chapter 572 Crisis Spreads
The plague developed extremely rapidly, and there was a crazy escape in the labor camp. In just a few days, the labor camp became an empty camp. Except for tens of thousands of laborers who were infected with the disease and waiting to die, and more than 300,000 people who had already died of the disease, there was no one alive in the camp.
The whole camp was filled with a stench and no one dared to go in. The Minister of War Duan Wenzhen had no choice but to order the camp to be set on fire. The soldiers kept cutting down trees and throwing them into the camp to help fuel the fire. The fire burned for three days and three nights, turning the entire camp into a wasteland.
But the raging fire did not burn the plague god to death, and the army began to be infected. More than 10,000 soldiers who Duan Wenzhen led to clean up the civilian camp were also infected one after another. Duan Wenzhen himself was also infected with the plague and unfortunately died three days later.
The plague began to spread in the army. Generals Xin Shixiong and Mai Tiezhang died one after another. Even Yang Xiong and Yang Da fell ill and the military camp was filled with grief.
A series of bad news completely devastated Emperor Yang Guang. He was no longer worried about whether the Eastern Expedition could be successful, but whether he could leave Liaodong alive.
Yang Guang could no longer wait and urgently ordered the entire army to pack up and retreat.
But at this time, a terrible news came. The official road from the Liao River to the west was full of dead bodies of civilians. Many of them died of illness, but more died of illness and starvation. Without food, the already extremely weak civilians had no chance of walking back to the Central Plains alive. The dead were lying side by side, and the road was filled with stench.
This news made all the civil and military officials look at each other in surprise.
At this time, Yu Shiji said: "Your Majesty, we can leave Liaodong by boat!"
This suggestion cheered up Yang Guang, as he could leave Liaodong by boat and even return directly to Luoyang.
Yang Guang said repeatedly: "Pack your luggage immediately, we will leave by boat overnight!"
Unfortunately, there are not so many large ships. The fleet that previously transported supplies has returned to Donglai County, leaving only ten large ships.
Yang Guang had no time to care about the army. He immediately ordered Generals Xue Shixiong and Zhang Jin to lead the army to retreat by land, taking as much food and supplies as possible. He then took all the officials and other important sick generals, boarded ten large ships, left the Liao River overnight, sailed south into the Bohai Sea, headed to the mouth of the Zhangshui River, and returned to Luoyang via the Yongji Canal.
Yang Xiong and Yang Da ultimately could not be saved and died of illness on the way back.
At the same time that Emperor Yang Guang left Liaodong by boat, the last fleet of the Jiangnan Army also left the Taedong River and returned to Longwei Island.
Xiao Xia did not arrest ordinary people, but instead arrested all of Goguryeo's royal family, officials, scholars, their families, servants, and more than 4,000 people and detained them in Longwei Island.
The reason is very simple. It would be difficult to feed hundreds of thousands of people if they were captured. It would be better to capture the elite. These four thousand people were enough to make Goguryeo surrender.
In addition, the Sui army emptied almost all the wealth, supplies, and food in the imperial palace, official residences, and warehouses, sweeping away all the wealth that Goguryeo had accumulated over hundreds of years.
Capturing Pyongyang was only the first step in Xiaoxia's Liaodong Campaign, and the second target was the Liaodong Peninsula.
Three days later, hundreds of large ships left Longwei Island and headed for the Liaodong Peninsula.
The Liaodong Peninsula was also the central area of Goguryeo's operation. The military center was located in Shebei City at the southern end, with more than 20,000 troops stationed there.
Shebei City is located in today's Jinzhou District of Dalian. The coastal area here is a plain area, and the depth is a low mountain and hilly area.
According to the city-building habits of the Goguryeo people, Shebei City was built on a hill that stretched for more than ten miles. This peculiarly shaped city can be seen from the sea far away. It is actually a mountain city, built against the mountain. It consists of three parts: the foot city, the waist city and the top city. Standing on the top city, you can also see all the movements on the sea.
So when the huge fleet of the Sui army appeared on the sea, it was immediately discovered by the soldiers of Shebei City, and the alarm bell was sounded in the city.
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"
The military camp of more than 20,000 people was in Jiaocheng. When the alarm bell sounded, the 20,000 Goguryeo soldiers immediately entered a state of war. The top of the city was full of soldiers, ready for battle.
At this time, Xiao Xia was also standing on the bow, using his clairvoyance to observe the city of Beishe, which was very close to the sea. This city of Beishe reminded him of the Middle-earth royal city in "The Lord of the Rings", which was indeed very similar.
"Your Highness, it took Goguryeo a lot of time and money to build this city!" Lai Huer said with a smile: "I estimate that it will take at least 20 years to build this city."
Xiao Xia smiled and nodded, "If we take this city, we won't have to worry about other strongholds on the Liaodong Peninsula."
The fleet began to slowly enter the bay. Xiao Xia unexpectedly discovered that there were five large ships in the bay, preparing to set sail to escape. Xiao Xia immediately ordered: "Capture these large ships alive!"
The warships quickly surrounded several large ships. The Sui soldiers jumped on board and quickly took control of the boatmen and soldiers on board.
Not long after, the naval general Fei Qingnu came to report to Xiao Xia, "Your Highness, we found a large amount of Sui army armor and Sui army rations in the cabin?"
Xiao Xia was startled, and immediately ordered: "Go and interrogate him thoroughly, what's going on?"
The interrogation was quick and the other ship's supervisor confessed everything like spitting out beans.
Fei Qingnu reported: "The enemy is a Goguryeo merchant ship. They came from the Yalu River. They said that all 200,000 Sui troops surrendered, and 100,000 civilians were also captured. Food and weapons are their spoils of war. They just arrived at Bishe City and have not had time to unload. They have to go back several times to transport them."
Xiao Xia immediately understood that if the supply was cut off and the Sui army ran out of food, they would have no choice but to surrender.
"Continue the interrogation and order the entire army to land!"
The Sui army began to land. After one army after another landed, they immediately formed a defensive formation. That afternoon, all 30,000 troops had landed. The Goguryeo soldiers never left the city to harass them. From this detail, we can see that the opponent's commander was very cautious and would never take risks easily.
Soon, twenty medium-sized catapults were also brought ashore.
The Sui army rested for a night on the beach, and early the next morning, 30,000 troops lined up under the city of Beishe.
The semicircular top of the city wall was filled with Goguryeo defenders, numbering more than ten thousand. Xiao Xia squinted his eyes and looked at this large military city. The city wall was three meters high and was made entirely of large stones, making it very solid. The passages to the mountain were located at both ends of the city wall, so even if they attacked the city, they still had to go up to the city and climb up the mountain from both ends of the city wall.
Xiao Xia looked at the mountain again. This was not an isolated mountain, but a hill that was more than ten miles long. The mountain city was located on the easternmost side of the hill.
Xiao Xia waved his hand to call Shen Guang up and said to him, "Take a hundred scouts and go up the west side of the hill to see if there is a way to climb to the top of the enemy's camp."
"I humbly obey my orders!"
Shen Guang rushed westward with a hundred scouts.
Xiao Xia slowly gave the order: "Heavy shields provide cover, and catapults prepare to attack the city!"
Since the invention of the iron fire mine, the Jiangnan Army basically stopped considering using siege ladders to attack the city. Their targets were all aimed at the city gates.
Fifty soldiers holding large shields formed a shield formation and slowly advanced forward. Behind the shield formation was a medium-sized catapult with wheels installed underneath. Once the position was determined, it would be fixed at the bottom.
The catapult is about seven feet high, but the throwing pole is thirty feet long, and it can throw a thirty-jin object two hundred steps away.
If the enemy uses a city defense bow, then the range is only a hundred steps, which is not a big concern. But we are afraid that the enemy has medium to large heavy crossbows, which would pose a greater threat. Even if Goguryeo does not have this technology, they can easily get it in the Central Plains.
Twenty catapults were lined up in a row two hundred steps away. At this time, crossbow arrows from the top of the city wall rained down like raindrops, hitting the shield formation with a crackling sound. The enemy did have crossbow arrows.
(End of this chapter)