Chapter 1352 Emptiness

Chapter 1352 Emptiness

Chapter 1352 Emptiness
Arrows rained down, and the flames illuminated half the night sky red.

The whole city was filled with corpses from the attacks of swords and axes.

On the ancient road that had existed for who knows how many years, groups of captives walked away crying.

Shao Yu sat under a tree, drawing the map stroke by stroke in the dim light of a torch.

There were many castles along the way, but we bypassed most of them.

At first, he was very cautious, fearing that their retreat would be cut off after the army passed by. Therefore, he even designed an ambush tactic, intending to take the opportunity to annihilate the bandits who came to cut off their retreat, but he waited in the mountains for two whole days and nothing happened.

After repeated thinking, he asked the natives of Xuantu and confirmed that these places had been repeatedly looted by the Murong clan and they were all scared.

So they stopped caring about it and concentrated on looting. Up to that point, the army still had enough food and fodder to last for twenty days, but the more they fought, the more they had.

They even helped the Goguryeo people harvest some crops, mostly millet, soybeans, and corn, which were similar to those in many places in the north and they were able to adapt to them.

"The city of Mudi (now Muqi Town, Xinbin) is ahead. Have you explored it?" Shao Yu asked without raising his head when he heard the noise coming from the front.

"Your Majesty, it seems that Mudi City has received additional troops." replied the leader of the group, Liu Jiu.

Shao Yu looked up at him and asked, "Where is Hou Mochen?"

"Still in the west of Mudi City."

Shao Yu put away the map, thought for a moment, and said, "Do you see it clearly?"

"Understood." Liu Jiu replied.

Shao Yu didn't speak for a long time.

In fact, he divided his troops halfway.

After passing Gaolu Mountain City, they marched eastward for dozens of miles, then split into two. The 3,000 cavalry of the Yuwen tribe, carrying his royal flag, continued eastward, burning, killing and looting along the Xiaoliao River (Hunhe River). He, with the guards of the Prince of Yan's Palace, the Left Flying Dragon Guards, and the Xiluo tribe's light cavalry of about 11,000 people, turned southeast, entered the Nansu River (Suzi River) basin, and headed straight for Mudi City.

The road from Xuantu and Liaodong counties to Goguryeo is actually very complicated. It is generally divided into two roads, north and south, but there are forks in the two roads. Shao Yu is now walking on the southern road of the north road, also known as the "Mudi Road".

This is a city structure in which plain land and mountain city are connected. That is, there is a city on the road, and there is another mountain city on the mountain five miles to the north, which together constitute Mudi City.

What's wrong with the Goguryeo people? The royal flag is in the north, but they don't go to the north to defend it, but instead send more troops to the south? What's the reason? Are they bullying the weak and afraid of the strong?
Never mind him, come if you want, do you think I’m afraid of you?
Thinking of this, he issued an order: "Tomorrow, select some of the prisoners who have not been sent away, take them outside the city, and let them cry."

"Yes, sir." Liu Jiu replied.

Shao Yu glanced at him again and said, "If you make achievements in the war, you can lead a battalion on your own. I am in a position to recruit people based on their talents, not their backgrounds."

"Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty." Liu Jiuxi said.

******
On the 18th of the intercalary seventh month, there were continuous cries outside the city of Mudi.

Groups of men, women, old and young were brought to the battlefield, crying and shouting heartbreakingly.

There was no movement in the city at first.

Hou Mochen Can waved his hand, and the swordsmen stepped forward. In an instant, more than a hundred heads rolled down.

There was a sudden uproar on the city wall, countless people running around, and there seemed to be sounds of spitting and cursing, although no one could understand what they were cursing.

Shao Yu stood on a high ground, watching expressionlessly.

His attendant Guo Shi followed behind him, holding his horse and the spear.

Guo Shi had met Shao Xun before, so he couldn't help but compare the father and son. In his opinion, both of them were quite cruel.

For example, capturing civilians to attack the city was something that both father and son had done.

The difference is that the emperor today would drive the people to attack the city, consuming the defenders' strength and arrows, while the King of Yan changed his tactics: beheading in public to encourage the defenders to come out of the city to fight.

Honestly speaking, Guo Shi didn't think this method would be effective. Some people were really thick-skinned. It was basically impossible for them to - uh, Guo Shi widened his eyes and found that the gates of Mudi City were wide open and a large number of soldiers filed out and lined up outside the city.

Shao Yu's expression also brightened up, and he carefully observed the enemy troops leaving the city.

After a moment, he laughed out loud.

They had little armor and their equipment was not very sophisticated, similar to the one he had defeated before.

However, the number of people was much larger, and it seemed that there were more than 4,000 people.

Shao Yu squinted his eyes and looked for a while. No, there might be five thousand, including more than four thousand infantry and several hundred cavalry.

At this moment, he was extremely grateful to his father for forcing him and his brothers to learn how to count the number of enemy soldiers early on, and even taking them to the Dazhen Pass to test them one by one.

These insignificant little things have gradually become his precious wealth.

The last time we defeated the enemy, we relied on the bravery of our cavalry. This time the enemy is slightly stronger than last time, so we need to change our tactics.

While thinking, his eyes fell on a stone bridge outside Mudi City.

This bridge spans the north and south banks of the Nansu River. It was probably built for the convenience of the people. The key to the battle lies here.

His breathing gradually became heavy, and his palms began to sweat.

After noticing that everyone else was looking at him, Shao Yu took a deep breath and said to himself: No one is born knowing how to fight. I have learned so much since I was a child, and I have trained and managed the army for so many years. I am no worse than others. Now I just need to prove myself.

"Pass the order..." He gave the order with full energy.

As the order was given, each battalion immediately began to act.

Because the Liang army had more cavalry, the guards of the Prince of Yan's Palace, who were in the front, retreated slightly for a while.

This is actually a very dangerous operation.

When Guo Shi heard this, his expression changed drastically. They were retreating in the narrow river valley, which was very crowded and would cause chaos if they were not careful.

Shao Yu glared at him and said, "I have lived and eaten with the soldiers for many years. There is no doubt about me. Why should I be afraid?"

Guo Shi felt a little relieved.

Sure enough, just as Shao Yu said, the cavalry of Prince Yan's Mansion was led by him, and they trusted each other very much. When they retreated, they saw that Prince Yan was still standing on the hillside, so they felt relieved and began to act in an orderly manner.

The group of people walking at the back even shot a round of arrows, which fell into the crowd of Goguryeo people who were running towards Mudi City, causing widespread casualties.

The Goguryeo people were furious and quickened their pace to catch up.

After all, the cavalry had four legs, and although the road was narrow, they eventually dispersed, revealing the figures of 4,000 soldiers of the Zuo Feilong Guard Mansion who were lined up on the north bank of the Nansu River. They raised their spears high, shouted "Kill" in unison, and marched forward.

The Goguryeo people had red eyes and rushed forward without caring who was in front of them.

The sound of dense horse hooves rang out, but not on the north bank, but on the south bank of the Nansu River.

Under Shao Yu's gaze, more than 3,000 carefully selected soldiers of the Zuo Feilong Guard rode their horses at full speed, heading eastward along the gentle river valley south of the water, passing the cavalry of the Prince of Yan's Palace on the other side of the river, passing their own troops, and passing the Goguryeo formation.

When they rushed to a place only a hundred steps away from Mudi City, they slowly turned around and dismounted in batches.

In fact, there were some soldiers guarding both ends of the stone bridge, and deer horns were temporarily placed there, but the Goguryeo people did not take it lightly.

But after the soldiers of Zuo Feilong Guard dismounted, they all drew their swords, axes, and bows. With just one charge, they defeated dozens of Goguryeo guards on the south side of the bridge. Then they cut off the deer horns and rushed onto the stone bridge.

There were more than a hundred people on the north bank, all stunned.

The long sword rushed over, instantly cutting a bloody path, and more than a hundred enemy soldiers were scattered.

The defenders on the top of Mudi City were in panic and shouted loudly.

The soldiers crossed the bridge one after another, and in an instant two or three hundred people came over.

The gate of Mudi City was opened again, and the last defenders had rushed out, seemingly trying to save the situation. There were faint sounds of drums in the city, probably indicating that they were gathering troops.

There was no other way. They couldn't let this group of soldiers get around their main force, otherwise everything would be over.

More and more soldiers of Zuo Feilong Guard crossed the bridge.

A team leader with a recognition flag on his back shouted "Follow me", and led dozens of people straight to the city gate, fighting with the Goguryeo guards who rushed out towards them.

As the long swords swung, blood and flesh flew everywhere. As the leader of the team continued to fight, he was overwhelmed by the Goguryeo soldiers and disappeared.

More than a hundred people rushed in from the rear, and the soldiers on both sides of Liang and Li lost their formation and fought fiercely at the city gate.

The Li soldiers attacked frantically. Although there were only a hundred Liang soldiers, they stubbornly stayed at the city gate and refused to retreat even a single step.

On the other side, a total of 2,400 palace soldiers formed a battle formation and launched a charge towards the main force of Goguryeo from the rear.

The beautiful soldiers were attacked from both sides and there was a lot of noise. They no longer had the momentum of charging forward with red eyes as before. The formation was disconnected and in chaos.

The sound of dense horse hooves arose again.

The Xiluo cavalry, who had been waiting for a long time, rushed out from one side of the battlefield, and arrows rained down on the Li soldiers' formation, crushing their last bit of resistance.

On the hillside, everyone looked at Shao Yu with admiration.

Shao Yu had a smile on his face, but his clenched fists were full of sweat.

No one was more nervous than him, and no one enjoyed this moment more than him.

First, they angered the defenders and forced them to come out of the city to fight, then they retreated to lure them away from the city. At the critical moment, the cavalry infantry maneuvered at high speed on the battlefield, rushed to the rear of the enemy, and shook their position. The Wuhuan light cavalry completed the final blow to defeat the enemy.

But he also knew that without the superb combat skills of Zuo Feilong's guards, his plan might not be carried out smoothly.

If another troop came, it might not be possible to succeed in just breaking through the stone bridge, blocking the reinforcements in the city - maybe not many, but they must be desperate enough - and then launching a charge.

Many generals always complain that perfect plans cannot be implemented. There are certainly many reasons for this, but one of the important reasons may be that the quality of his soldiers is not capable of handling overly complex tactics.

His success was due to the founding veterans his father had painstakingly trained for many years.

The Goguryeo army's formation fell apart like a collapsed dam.

The soldiers in front of them advanced in formation against the wall, stabbing with spears continuously.

The Wuhuan cavalry attacked from the flank, continuously reaping lives with arrows.

The cavalry from the Prince of Yan's Palace also joined the battlefield. They used long spears and large halberds to bravely break into the enemy's formation, and their courage was unstoppable.

More than two thousand soldiers attacked from behind, and heads fell to the ground one after another as they swung their swords.

This battle was fought very "solidly". The 5,000 Goguryeo infantry and cavalry who left the city had almost nowhere to escape. There were Liang soldiers on all sides and they were killed in large numbers.

The worst-hit ones were probably the five hundred cavalrymen.

They were deployed in the center of the formation, probably to counterattack at critical moments. At this moment, they were caught in the crowd of infantry, unable to advance or retreat, and fell off their horses one after another...

No matter how long the battle is, it will always come to an end.

After completely defeating Goguryeo's 5,000 main forces, the Liang army's infantry and cavalry rushed towards Mudi City.

The remaining enemy troops had no fighting spirit and fled in panic.

The cavalry entered the city first, hacking and killing anyone they saw.

Zuo Feilong's guards then sent out a part of their men to attack the mountain city five miles ahead.

This day was a bloody day for the Goguryeo people in Mudi City.

Shao Yu showed a different side from his father. He barely restricted the soldiers' killing and gave them ample opportunities to vent their anger. When the sun set, the entire Mudi City was like a sapling destroyed by a violent storm, lifeless.

The killing came to an end with the sound of a clear gong.

The remaining people of Mudi City were driven out, the streets were cleared and the bodies were buried.

Shao Yu ordered his men to count the supplies and torture the prisoners.

After dinner, he received the first interrogation record: the King of Goguryeo personally led more than 40,000 people to gather in the south road and join the remnants of the Murong clan, intending to stop the main force of the Liang army.

He couldn't help but laugh.

That’s it, that’s it!

"Call back the Yuwen tribe." Shao Yu thought for a moment and added, "I heard that my cousin is still besieging Cuizhenbao Mountain City (now east of Tieling, another mountain city built by Goguryeo across the border). Don't fight anymore. Call all the troops here and say that I have defeated them along the way and the enemy's forces are weak."

The messenger left quickly.

When the cold wind blew, Shao Yu felt that he was soaked all over, but his mood couldn't be better.

(End of this chapter)