What was desperate was that on their way, some more figures appeared, and they were surrounded.
Someone was shouting in Goguryeo dialect, "Throw down your weapons and kneel down without killing."
The three hunters looked at each other, dropped their big bows, threw away their empty quivers, took out the daggers at their waists, and rushed towards the enemy without hesitation.
They did not have to fight the enemy desperately, but they had to fight because even if they had a chance, they had to escape and tell the tribe that the enemy was coming.
It's only half a day's walk from Caiyang Lake where their tribe lives. It's too close. If they are unprepared, the tribe will be killed by the enemy.
In the eyes of the Goguryeo people, the Tang army was already the embodiment of a demon, and conversely, to the Tang army, the Goguryeo people were not a good thing either.
Of course, two countries in a state of war do not have so many rights and wrongs.
The conquest of Goguryeo has now become a historical task that the Central Plains dynasty must complete, and its significance is by no means as simple as opening up territory and expanding territory.
It is mixed with factors such as national hatred, the great achievements of the emperor and his ministers, and the strategic direction of the country. It is only a matter of time before a war breaks out, not today, but maybe tomorrow.
Not to mention from the perspective of the Goguryeo people, since the war happened on their own land, it was natural for them to take up swords and guns to resist.
The grievances between Goguryeo and the Central Plains Dynasty lasted for hundreds of years, and too much blood was shed. Except for those extremely poor and boring people, where would anyone really care about who was right and who was wrong?
If someone insists on gesticulating from the perspective of a bystander, he definitely has an ulterior motive, or it is because of the mother's heart. It is purely a matter of standing and talking without pain.
…………
People who were involved in the national war did not have so many random thoughts, and all their actions were aimed at striving for the final victory.
The strangulation that occurred in the mountains and forests was just a microcosm of this war.
Goguryeo hunters are familiar with every plant and tree here, but in the face of prepared and premeditated military operations, all their resistance and struggle are in vain.
With several screams, the hunters who tried to escape were shot to the ground.
Those who surrounded and killed them were sentry detectives from the Tang Army. More than a dozen people surrounded them, burying the bodies and cleaning up the traces.
The Tang army also suffered casualties. The mountain tribes of Goguryeo were tough and tenacious. The Tang army fought against them in the mountains and did not have a great advantage.
If it were in the past, Tang Jun would definitely have to find a shelter from the wind to spend the winter.
But what is different in this battle is that the Tang army's winter clothes are very powerful, allowing them to continue carrying out military operations in the deep winter. This is the power of cotton-padded clothes.
…………
A big man and several people came from the west. They cut down a small tree and tied a black bear that had become their prey to it.
When he came closer and said hello, the big man was exuding joy all over his body.
The Tang Army officer who came with the leader patted the prey and said in blunt Chinese: "I will give the black bear I hunted to the general. He will be happy."
The officer gave him a cold look and said, "Haomo, we are not out here hunting."
Hao Mo said nonchalantly: "It's almost the same. You kill people and we hunt wild animals. Don't worry, we won't make any mistakes."
Goguryeo's leading party behaved very arrogantly, and the soldiers who were arranging the corpses and burying them all came closer.
The big man and the people he led became nervous. The big man waved his hands repeatedly, "We are not far from Caiyang Lake. You have to rely on us to guide you, otherwise you will not be able to find the place."
The officers' eyes are colder than the cold wind in the mountains. They are different from the mountain people. They walk on the edge of life and death all day long, and their disregard for human life has reached a level that is difficult for ordinary people to understand.
After staring at the big man for a long time, he waved his hand and said, "You are not the only one leading the way. You'd better be more honest with me... be quick and quick. If you miss something, will you lose your life?"
After saying that, he stepped up and kicked the prey carried by the guides to the ground, "Hunting? I'm sorry you thought of it. Hurry up and lead me, or I'll kill you."
Those who led the way dared to be angry but did not dare to speak out. Nowadays, there are many such people in the Tang army. They can only use them in a hurry, but cannot carefully identify them.
Those with high status were all around the generals, and those sent out were all so-called tribal warriors, who were incompatible with the Tang soldiers.
Just like now, the Tang army is carrying out standard military operations, but the leading party has to hunt for prey. Isn't this a joke? If Tang soldiers did this, they would be killed on the spot.
They were just leading the way, and they also had some "preferential treatment." The officer stood in front of the big man, raised a finger, and said, "This is just this time, it won't happen next time. If you don't want blood on your hands, just go back."
Stop smiling with me to please the general?"
The officer sneered contemptuously and almost said that you deserve it.
…………
And more than ten miles behind these sentinels, an army of more than 10,000 people was trudging forward in the snow. They had been walking in the mountains and forests for two days.
Everyone's body was covered with frost and snow, and their faces were blue and their lips were white from the cold.
This was the last military operation of Li Nian's partial division this winter, and their target was the Goguryeo tribe gathered near Caiyang Lake.
Since Li Nian heard that the Turks were heading south in August, he simply led his army into the mountains and forests in order to avoid being attacked by the Goguryeo and Turks.
First, they attacked Baiyan City, and then dispersed and attacked the Goguryeo tribe hiding in the mountains.
I have been entangled with the Goguryeo people for more than a month. None of them were head-on confrontations. They were almost always playing a game of chase and escape with the Goguryeo people.
The Goguryeo people would fight back from time to time to prevent the Tang army from going too deep. They used standard guerrilla tactics to drag down the Tang army in the mountains.
The Tang army was not impatient and dealt patiently with the Goguryeo people.
It can be said that since the war began, the fighting in the east has been in a stalemate, with few casualties on both sides.
Because the Tang army had penetrated into the mountains and the roads were difficult to travel in winter, the connection with the main force of the army in the west was cut off.
The generals in the army discussed it several times, and they were all afraid of losing the battle in the west and leaving their partial division alone. Therefore, when fighting the Goguryeo people, they always had to leave some spare strength to deal with the worst situation later.
On the other hand, the Goguryeo people's guerrilla warfare has been extremely uncomfortable until now.
The war took place in the hinterland of Goguryeo, and the Tang Dynasty people who came here were different from the Sui people back then. When the Sui people came in, they were already at the end of their tether.
They had no energy to take care of other things, so they just headed towards Pyongyang to attack. The damage to the mountain tribes mainly occurred in the years after the Sui people were defeated.
The defeated soldiers of the Sui people hid in the mountains and forests and became a group of bandits, causing great harm to Goguryeo.
When the Tang army came to the mountains, they had a tightly organized military force, which was comparable to the defeat of the Sui people. Their attacks, looting and killings all had military purposes.
Sometimes they invaded some villages and tribes, slaughtered all the adult men and women, and stole food. Sometimes they deliberately left some old, weak, women, and children behind and asked them to join other villages and tribes.
Tang's soldiers would occasionally follow them and take the flames of war to other places, but most of the time they wouldn't care.
The mountain people already lived a difficult life, and they had to deal with such cunning and cruel attacks from the Tang Dynasty. Even if they were prepared, it was becoming more and more difficult for them to deal with it.
This winter is not going well for the mountain tribes of Goguryeo.
This is what guerrilla warfare is like. It is normal to injure the enemy by one thousand and injure yourself by eight hundred. Just like the Goguryeo people, it is good to injure the enemy by one hundred and injure one thousand.
The most important point is actually that the Goguryeo people cannot guarantee their own supply of food and grass and can sustain a long-term stalemate with the Tang army.
The Tang army would not give them a chance to breathe. They kept exerting military pressure and did not let go of the poor Goguryeo people even in the depths of winter.
…………
In the evening, the army, which had been trekking in the mountains for several days, finally arrived at a mountain col under the guidance of their guide.
The sentinels who were sent out also returned to the army one after another, and Caiyang Lake was in front of them.
The soldiers shivered and set up a simple tent in the mountain col. They couldn't light a fire to keep warm. They took out the frozen and stone-like dried meat, chewed it hard and swallowed it. When they were thirsty, they got some snow and hardened it in the mountain col.
Stayed up all night.
Climbing on ice and lying on snow is nothing more than that.
Compared with those soldiers who came later, the Tang army undoubtedly lacked the rock-solid faith, but they were the same in terms of enduring hardship and hard work.
In the evening, the cold wind became more and more biting.
Several figures appeared silently high in the mountains.
A large lake formed by accumulated water in the mountains appeared in front of them. The lake had frozen and was covered with a thick layer of snow. The Goguryeo village was built on the east side of the lake.
Looking at the little lights, there should be quite a few people there.
The situation is similar to that of the Turks. The tribe that can have such a geomantic treasure land as a place to stay must be a large tribe or an alliance of several tribes.
The mountain people of Goguryeo also have the habit of gathering in some mountain basins to spend the winter in winter. This feature is even more obvious when there is an enemy threat.
In order to guard against enemy attacks, the Goguryeo people became very vigilant and often set up police posts around them.
It was just that the mountains were closed by heavy snow, so the Goguryeo people were a little lax. This time, on their way over, the Tang army only encountered a few teams of hunters who went into the mountains to hunt.
A few figures looked around on the top of the mountain. Seeing that the Goguryeo people seemed to have no movement, they quietly returned to the mountain col.
…………
Before dawn the next day, the officers woke up their subordinates with low voices and ordered them to line up.
Several flags were raised high in the Tang army formation, which would later guide the direction of the various ministries.
After the army was sorted out, no one gave them any instructions. They immediately moved forward, got out of the gap in the mountain, and stepped onto the lake.
Someone had been sent to inspect this place in the evening. The ice surface was solid and there were no traps.
In the darkness, dense masses of Tang soldiers gradually spread out on the lake, stepping on the snow on the lake, towards the village on the opposite side.
