Chapter 159 The End of the Crossbow
"Conquer Pyongyang? That's easy to say. With 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers, how can you capture Pyongyang? How can you get past this Liaodong city in front of you?"

Yuwen Shu snorted coldly: "Either lead the army back, or fight together. There is no reason to divide the troops."

Li Jiancheng did not refute Yuwen Shu, because what he said made a lot of sense, but he just continued to persuade the emperor: "Your Majesty knows that I have always been cautious. Even if I can't accomplish anything, I will never ruin the court's plan. It's up to us to stop the war.

If the war goes badly, I will contact General Lai, and with your majesty's support, we can force Goguryeo to surrender again."

The emperor began to hesitate. After all, he didn't want to stop the war, otherwise he would not have insisted on going to war under such circumstances.

Originally everyone was advising him to withdraw his troops, and now there were indeed people who supported him, and Yang Guang's heart also became active. It was because of Goguryeo that my kingdom had come to this point. How could I get rid of my hatred if Gao Yuan was not dead!

Li Jiancheng knew that he was just one step away from winning, so he said, "Your Majesty, you know that I have many friends. The three leaders of the Yanyun Iron Cavalry that have been wreaking havoc in Liaodong recently, Zhao Su, are also from Guanzhong. If we give them some benefits, we can lure them to join me in attacking Liaodong City and marching to Pyongyang.

And I also want to use this opportunity to recruit these brave men for Your Majesty!"

"Yanyun Iron Cavalry?"

The assistant minister of the Ministry of War reported, "Your Majesty, it was a group of bandits, with a total of 40,000 to 50,000 people. It is said that among them are Sui people, Goguryeo people, Turks, and Khitans. They are all very strong cavalrymen who come and go like the wind. They plundered Goguryeo very cruelly. Emperor Gao Yuan raised troops to encircle and suppress them several times, but failed to pacify them."

If it were the rebels from the Central Plains, the emperor would have wanted to cut them into pieces, but the rebels from Goguryeo had nothing to do with him. He even admired them quite a bit, after all, they were meritorious to him.

Moreover, even if there is a little water in the number of forty or fifty thousand elite cavalry, it is still very tempting. If we fill it up a little, it will be a large army again.

Yang Guang pondered for a moment and said, "I leave you 30,000 soldiers and horses, and give you the power to fight against the enemy and recruit them!"

Li Jiancheng knew that the great event had been accomplished, so he hurried to accept the order. Yuwen Shu and others did not look sad. Leading troops alone is not a good thing. Whether you have made achievements or not, there are always things that can be criticized. Given the emperor's suspicious nature, the Li family is walking into danger.

The emperor is now more relieved. Li Jiancheng is not like Yang Xuangan, who lost both his parents. It may be hard to trust him with loyalty alone, but without filial piety, he will never be able to accomplish anything.

What's more, this is Liaodong. Without the supply of food and fodder from the imperial court, no one can survive, and there is also Lai Huer.

So the emperor calmly rejected the envoy sent by Goguryeo to ask for surrender, but Hu Si Zheng, who was escorted there, was detained. How could the emperor let him go?

Hearing Hu Si Zheng's plea for mercy, the emperor felt refreshed, but he still ordered him to be torn into pieces by five horses, and then chopped into fine pieces and made into meat soup to reward everyone.

Some people fed it directly to livestock, while others, in order to please the emperor and prove their loyalty, actually ate it themselves.

It turned out to be very useful, and those people were promoted one after another within a few days.

After arranging all matters, the emperor returned to the capital in a hurry because Liu Miaowang, a Hu people in Lishi County, led his people in rebellion and proclaimed himself the Son of Heaven...

As soon as the emperor left Goguryeo, Yang Gongqing, the bandit leader from Handan, led 8,000 of his men to rob the eighth team behind the emperor's carriage and stole 42 of Feihuang's horses from the stables. The emperor was furious.

He couldn't believe that a mere thief dared to rob the emperor.
.........

After the emperor left, Li Jiancheng led Shan Xiongxin, Qin Shubao and others to Liaodong City, which was in ruins, patched up everywhere, and blood stains that could not be wiped off. Goguryeo was in such a difficult situation that even this core city that resisted the Sui Dynasty was difficult to repair, but even so, this city could not be taken down by a mere 30,000 people, even with Zhang Huli.

Moreover, Li Jiancheng could not afford such a luxury as using elite cavalry as siege materials.

Shan Xiongxin looked at it for a long time and gritted his teeth and said, "My lord, if you say so, I will definitely take this city for you!"

Qin Shubao shook his head: "The gain is not worth the loss. How can we waste all our troops here?"

Luo Yi also said: "Wouldn't that mean we have helped Lai Huer for nothing? If Liaodong falls, Pyongyang won't be able to hold out for long, and that would be a great achievement."

After the three generals expressed their opinions, they looked at Li Jiancheng silently, waiting for his decision.

"Wait, wait until the right time, right place and right people."

They then blocked the main city gates of Liaodong, but did not attack the city, nor did they stop Liaodong from sending out scouts. As long as the number of people was not large, they would just turn a blind eye.

Outside Pyongyang, Lai Huer had already received the news that the emperor had withdrawn his troops, leaving only him and Li Jiancheng. Lai Huer, who had been full of confidence, now only felt danger.

Without the backup of hundreds of thousands of troops, it would be too risky for his isolated force to show off its might outside the enemy's capital.

Fortunately, he was a naval officer and his retreat had been arranged, but it would be difficult to capture Pyongyang. As the capital, it had to be more majestic than Liaodong City.

But for several days, Pyongyang still did not take the initiative to attack, Lai Huer knew that they were indeed at the end of their strength.

In front of all the generals and soldiers, he said: "The army has gone out three times, but has not been able to defeat the bandits. I am ashamed of this. Today, Goguryeo is in trouble. With this army, we can defeat it soon. If we take Gao Yuan and return with victory, wouldn't it be a good thing for you to give titles to your wives and children?"

All the generals praised the idea and began a large-scale attack on the city. Lai Huer also continued to publicize the emperor's will, saying that as long as the bandit leader Gao Yuan was handed over, the emperor would pardon the rest.

The Goguryeo king Go Won was the undisputed heroic ruler of Goguryeo before and after the Sui Dynasty's expedition.

After the second expedition of the Sui Dynasty, Goguryeo was almost lost, the treasury was completely empty, the common people had no rice, the gentry had no food, and every family was in mourning. Gao Yuan became a criminal king, but the upper class still supported him.

But when they learned of the third expedition of the Sui Dynasty, the whole country was thinking of only one thing: was it true, as the Emperor of the Sui Dynasty said, that they had suffered such a tragedy because of Gao Yuan? Could they withdraw their troops if they handed over Gao Yuan?
From then on, Gao Yuan lost control of the entire country, even Pyongyang, and it was difficult for him to get orders from the emperor outside the palace.

It was not because he had done anything wrong, but because the aristocratic officials of Goguryeo had all seen that the current emperor of the Central Plains was a complete madman. Even if they defeated the Sui Dynasty again, he would still make a comeback next year.

They couldn't hold on any longer. For three years, they didn't even have time to sow seeds or harvest crops. Every year they had to fortify their walls and clear the fields, and every year they had to fight to defend the city with their lives.

When the Sui army retreated, the people suffered from famine, and after the famine there was an epidemic. But where would they get food relief? Not only could they not provide relief to the victims, they even had to continue to forcibly requisition food and fodder. If they didn't prepare food reserves in advance, how would they defend the city in the spring of next year?
...............

(End of this chapter)