Chapter 605: The Sui Dynasty Splits
Chapter 605: The Sui Dynasty Splits
Thirty-five thousand Goguryeo soldiers marched out of the city, laid down their weapons and armor, and returned to the city. At this time, Lai Yuan also led his troops to build two floating bridges on the Taedong River using large rafts and wooden boards.
Early the next morning, nearly one million Goguryeo people began to move south on a large scale, bringing their wives and children, driving livestock, and carrying their meager belongings, they marched across the pontoon bridge and entered the south of the Taedong River.
Gao Yuan also went south with hundreds of officials, dignitaries and a large amount of food and supplies. This time Xiao Xia did not interfere with their transfer of food and supplies and allowed them to take as much as they needed. However, there were still many things that they could not take away, so Gao Yuan could only order them to take more food.
They had to survive first, so food was the most important thing, and many other supplies had to be abandoned.
However, there were also many Goguryeo people who were unwilling to move south. Xiao Xia considered that the garrison needed population support, so he also adopted the voluntary principle. Except for the army, royal family and officials, other ordinary Goguryeo people who were willing to stay could stay and be incorporated into Sui people.
In the end, nearly 300,000 people remained.
Xiao Xia immediately appointed Zhou Fashang as the first governor of Liaodong, Lai Yuan as deputy general, and Zhang Zhenzhou as chief secretary, and stationed 10,000 troops and 300 warships in Pyongyang.
The 30,000 Sui troops from the south of the Yangtze River led by Xiao Xia did not return to Liaodong, but directly returned to Donglai County on 2,000 large ships.
Half a month later, Goguryeo began to build a city on the north bank of the Han River and established a new capital, naming it Nanneungcheng.
Yu Juluo led an army of 100,000, with Shan County as the main logistics base, and launched a massive attack on Tongguan.
The terrain of Tongguan is extremely dangerous. It is backed by Qinling Mountains in the south, connected to Jingu Valley in the east, with Twelve connected cities in the south of the valley, and Wei and Luo Rivers in the north where the Yellow River meets the pass. It is surrounded by mountains and peaks, deep valleys and steep cliffs, high mountains and narrow roads. There is only a narrow goat path in the middle, which can only accommodate one car and one horse. Therefore, Tongguan is known for the poems such as "the narrow road is dangerous and competes with monkeys" and "the road on earth ends at Tongguan".
But it was impossible for the army to attack Tongguan directly, because there was a defensive fortification in front of Tongguan, which was the Forbidden Valley. The Forbidden Valley was about thirty miles long and had twelve connected cities built. A solid and tall fortification was built every three miles.
The attacking army coming from the ancient road of Qiaohan had to go around to the southernmost side of the mountain, then start to attack the Forbidden Valley. After capturing twelve pass cities, they arrived at the foot of the mountain two miles away from Tongguan, and then climbed another two miles of mountain road to enter Tongguan.
This is why Tongguan is known as the second most dangerous pass in the world, second only to Yanmenguan. Helplessly, Yu Juluo had to order an attack on the forbidden valley.
Drums roared, arrows rained down, shouts of killing shook the sky, and the attacking soldiers rushed up like a tide again and again, fighting a bloody battle with the defending soldiers, but were beaten back time and time again, and the bodies of the dead piled up like a mountain.
Yujuro attacked for nearly half of the city and suffered the loss of more than 20,000 soldiers before he captured seven cities. The attack became increasingly difficult as time went on, and the imperial army was already exhausted.
After attacking for nearly a month and with more than 30,000 casualties, they only captured seven cities. The morale of the soldiers was completely lost and they began to destroy the siege weapons. Yu Juro had no choice but to order the entire army to retreat to Shan County for rest and recuperation.
This meant that the seven cities that had been captured with the loss of 30,000 men were completely lost, and they had to start the attack from scratch again.
At this time, Tu Wanxu, who was attacking Puzhou Pass in the north, also received unfavorable news. The iron chain bridge over the Yellow River had been dismantled. Tu Wanxu lost 20,000 troops and failed to capture Puzhou Pass.
Emperor Yang Guang was furious and ordered the removal of Yu Juluo and Tu Wanxu from their posts, but he had no choice but to withdraw his troops back to Luoyang.
The failure of the attack on Guanzhong had extremely serious consequences. Yang Qing and other royal family members, as well as hundreds of representatives of Guanlong nobles and Guanlong gentry, published a manifesto in front of the Tai Mausoleum of the previous emperor, listing all the foolish actions of Yang Guang and severely criticizing him for exhausting the people's strength and putting the Sui Dynasty in danger. At the end of the manifesto, it was announced that Yang Guang came to power through rebellion, not the orthodox succession of the previous emperor, and that he was not legitimately recognized as the emperor of the Sui Dynasty. Yang Yong, who had been overthrown before, was restored as emperor.
Originally, they wanted to push Yang Yu to the throne, but during the negotiations among all parties, the Guanlong gentry unanimously opposed the ascension of Yang Yu, who had a bad reputation, to the throne. In the end, they pushed Yang Yong to the throne and continued to establish the country's name as Sui, which was called the Western Sui, while the Sui Dynasty in Luoyang was called the Eastern Sui.
Government offices all over the country took sides, but the divisions were clear. Some included Guanzhong Dao, Guannei Dao, Jiannan Dao, Longyou Dao, Hexi Dao, Qinghai Dao, Shuofang Dao, etc., which recognized the Western Wei, while the other eastern Daos continued to recognize the emperor of Luoyang.
However, the impact of the split of the Sui Dynasty was not as simple as the clear division of camps. Rebellious forces in various places found an excuse and began to establish their own regimes in the name of recognizing the Western Sui Dynasty.
Luo Yi of Youzhou recognized the Western Sui Dynasty and began to establish his own regime. Lu Mingyue occupied Hengshan County, Dou Jiande quickly occupied Xindu County, proclaimed himself Duke of Xindu, and expressed his loyalty to the Western Sui Dynasty. The Wagang Army also occupied Dongjun County. Duke Menghai and Xu Yuanlang occupied Dongping County and Lu County respectively and pledged their loyalty to the Western Sui Dynasty. Du Fuwei also occupied Donghai County. Li Zitong occupied Ruyin County, and Xiao Xin occupied Nanjun County.
For the first time, Emperor Yang Guang felt overwhelmed, although at this time news came that the Prince of Jin had pacified Goguryeo, drove the Goguryeo people across the Taedong River, and occupied Pyongyang City.
But Yang Guang no longer felt any joy and no longer took Goguryeo seriously.
Yang Guang could ignore the rebellions that broke out one after another in various places, but his brother Yang Yong's restoration to the throne in Chang'an dealt him a fatal blow.
He finally realized that his decision to move the capital was a mistake. He lost the support of the Guanlong nobles and Guanlong gentry, and the Shandong gentry also did not support him. He did not gain either side, but was abandoned by both.
In particular, the Guanlong nobles took advantage of his two eastern expeditions to move back to Chang'an one after another. Only now did he realize that there were almost no Guanlong nobles left in Luoyang.
"A bunch of ungrateful bastards!"
Yang Guang cursed viciously, and suddenly he thought of Hedong. Li Yuan must still be in Hedong!
Yang Guang suddenly took a breath of cold air. Don’t let Li Yuan ruin Hedong’s territory.
Yang Guang pondered for a moment, wrote a secret decree, and handed it along with his gold medal to a trusted eunuch, asking him to rush to Taiyuan immediately and deliver the decree to the Tiger Guards Wang Wei and Gao Junya.
Li Yuan is currently serving as the Pacifier of Hedong Road, with 20,000 troops under his command, but the 20,000 troops are specifically controlled by the Tiger Guards Generals Wang Wei and Gao Junya.
Under normal circumstances, Li Yuan holds the military command, and Wang Wei and Gao Junya must obey Li Yuan's orders. However, if there is the emperor's will and the gold medal, then the power exceeds the military command, and the emperor can directly command the generals under him, bypassing the pacification envoy.
At the same time, Yang Guang appointed Zhang Xutuo as the governor of Nanyang County, waiting for an opportunity to seize Wuguan.
Unable to pass through Tongguan, Yang Guang turned his attention to Wuguan.
(End of this chapter)