Chapter 112: Crossing the Bridge
Li Jiancheng asked Zhang Huli to sit down below: "Because the Turks are nomadic people, once they grow strong to a certain extent, they will split and confront each other with just a little trick, and their strength is only temporary."

"Goguryeo was a country like our Sui Dynasty, a land of farmers. Since its founding, it has driven out the Mohe and Khitan tribes, pacified Buyeo in the north, invaded Baekje and Silla in the south, and joined forces with the Turks in the west to resist our dynasty. At the same time, it took advantage of the opportunity to invade Liaoxi and occupy the counties that originally belonged to the Sui Dynasty.

This is a very ambitious plan. In the early years, he sent people to provoke the remnants of Qi State and encourage them to restore their country. He also sent people to the Chen Dynasty in the south of the Yangtze River to pay tribute, in an attempt to keep the Central Plains divided. "

Li Jiancheng concluded: "The emperor abused the people's power through war, but he did not make mistakes in the general direction. This is why the civil and military officials in the court obeyed his orders despite their opinions. It is time to suppress Goguryeo."

"But my brother doesn't seem to think that Your Majesty can win this battle." Li Xiaogong said, "With a million troops and sufficient food and grass, there is no way they will lose."

"If Your Majesty is not here, we can win. But if Your Majesty leads the army in person, we will definitely lose. The Emperor is not a military genius. He can only command tens of thousands of troops. If he commands an army of a million, he will suffer internal losses before he can injure the enemy."

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Lai Huer led 40,000 elite troops to the outskirts of Pyongyang. Yi Zhiwende ordered a deputy general to lead 10,000 people out of the city to meet the enemy. They were undoubtedly defeated, but fortunately they had the city to rely on and the archers to protect them.

The Sui army challenged the enemy and sent someone to read out the emperor's decree, which was to execute only the culprit and to be magnanimous, that is, to pardon him even if he was willing to kowtow and apologize.

Yizhi Wende once again ordered his men to go out of the city to meet the enemy, but they were defeated and fled back. Qin Shubao in the Sui army frowned and said, "They keep fighting after repeated defeats, and they collapse at the first blow. I'm afraid it's a trick."

Shan Xiongxin was a fierce general, but he obviously did not have the vision of Qin Shubao in the battlefield. After listening, he just said: "They are weak soldiers. If you still have doubts, you might as well tell the general."

Qin Shubao nodded and was about to ride his horse to meet Lai Huer, but before he arrived, the defeated enemy army mutinied and the gates of Pyongyang were opened wide.

Qin Shubao didn't care about anything else but shouted to Lai Huer: "General, beware of fraud!"

The military officer beside Lai Huer also advised: "It may be a strategy to lure the enemy deep into our territory, my lord, be careful!
"Even if it's a trick, as long as we leave soldiers to guard the city gates, my 40,000 elite soldiers can come and go freely!"

At the command, the Sui army shouted victory and charged into Pyongyang under a hail of arrows. Just after taking control of the city gate, Lai Huer led his troops straight to the palace, intending to decide the outcome in one fell swoop.

But after entering the city, what they saw was not the enemy army, but gold, silver and treasures all over the ground. Jade, brocade and silk paved the ground and extended to the end of the street. The luster of gold and silver sparkled in the sun, and there was no one watching, just waiting for people to reach out and pick them up.

You don't need a lot, just a few pieces are enough to buy wealth that you can't buy even if you lick blood on the blade for three lifetimes. You can buy property and land, adopt slaves and concubines, and your children and grandchildren can learn to read and write, and become officials in the future...

Lai Huer was shocked, more terrified than seeing thousands of troops, and immediately ordered: "Whoever dares to move will be killed immediately! All the gold and silver will be divided equally after the battle!"

But the army formation had already become chaotic. The exclamations from the front caused the ones behind to surge forward. The purpose of breaking into the city was to burn, kill and loot. The fire in their hearts had already been burning.

But only the generals around him agreed. Before he could pass the order, someone in the front army moved. When one person moves, the people around him are afraid of falling behind. When a group of people move, those behind will naturally follow.

“Kill!” Lai Huer’s personal guards bent their bows and shot arrows. In the blink of an eye, nearly a hundred people were killed or wounded. They wailed, but it did not scare them. Those who were lightly injured climbed forward with red eyes, wrapped their hands around the gold and silver and stuffed them into their arms, and then were stepped on the head and died with a beautiful vision of the future...

Of course, there were some generals who were powerful enough to suppress their subordinates and prevent them from rushing to grab the gold and silver, such as Qin Shubao who came to deal with Fei Qingnu, but chaos was chaos.

The soldier immediately advised: "General, we can't restrain them, let's withdraw."

But it was too late. The ambush appeared. They also stared at the gold and silver treasures on the ground with red eyes, but the blood on their swords made them dare not move rashly, because those who dared to reach out had already died, and several batches had died.

One group was in a complete formation, and the other group was so mixed that it was impossible to tell the front from the back. The infantrymen had dropped their weapons, and the cavalrymen had jumped off their horses to pick up treasures. The result was self-evident.

Lai Huer almost died in the city, fortunately the city gate was still in their hands. Qin Shubao, Shan Xiongxin and others were brave, but only a few thousand people escaped, and they were still being hunted down.

Fortunately, Zhou Fashang led his troops to the scene and finally scared off the pursuers. Everyone retreated back to the boats. They were already alone here and had lost so many troops that they were unable to fight anymore and had to board the boats and retreat at any time.

Lai Huer wanted to commit suicide out of shame but was stopped by the generals. Shan Xiongxin watched from a distance and felt that the world-famous Duke Rong was just like this.

The news of Lai Huer's defeat soon reached the ears of the emperor. After hearing the details, Yang Guang did not blame his trusted and beloved general too much. He mainly thought that it was okay that the navy could not achieve success. He still had a million troops here, so there was no need to be afraid of it.

The emperor led his troops to the Liao River with great ambition, while on the other side of the river the King of Goryeo personally led his troops to guard the river, waiting for the Sui army to cross halfway before attacking them.

The emperor also knew the danger, so he ordered Yuwen Kai to build three floating bridges, that is, to split the bridges into several sections, and then put them together after they were built, using the buoyancy of the river water to directly connect to the other side.

At the emperor's urging, the bridge was hastily completed, but due to inaccurate measurements, it was still four or five steps away from the shore. However, the emperor had already given orders that when the floating bridge fell into the water, they must attack fiercely and no one would retreat.

The general of the Right Guard, Mai Tiezhang, had been weak since entering Liao, but he led the charge at this time and shouted to the soldiers around him: "A man's life is in his own hands. How can you burn your nose with moxa cones, spray your nostrils with melon seeds, and cure jaundice, but die in the arms of your children?

Mai Tiezhang lived up to his bravery. Seeing that the pontoon bridge had not reached the end, he showed no intention of retreating. He shouted loudly and leaped forward on his horse, while the Goryeo soldiers had already raised their spears high.

When the horse was in mid-air, Mai Tiezhang stepped on the horse's back and lifted it up. The poor horse was pierced by several spears, but it also took revenge by smashing several people to death. In this open space, Mai Tiezhang swung his sword and cut out a piece of open space.

Unfortunately, in the blink of an eye, he was stabbed in the ribs by two spears from left and right. He howled and fought hard. After killing one person, he felt his strength dissipated. When he looked down, he saw four or five more spears had entered his body.

Today I have repaid your majesty's kindness! Unfortunately, I still owe Mr. Li several years of wine money. In the next life, I will repay him by being a horse or an ox...

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(End of this chapter)