Chapter 5 Homelessness (Part 2) The most useful organ in Yu Wenshi's body is his tongue. He cleaned four bowls of paste like a whirlwind. Without waiting for Liu Hongji and others to ask questions, he immediately took the initiative to tell everyone what happened to the expeditionary force.
More than ten days ago, after forcing Goguryeo to agree to cede territory and sue for peace, the expeditionary army slowly retreated. Unexpectedly, the Goguryeo people did not have the habit of keeping their promises. Seeing the Sui army retreating, they immediately harassed them along the way. In order to avoid the enemy seeing the flaw in the food collapse, The soldiers and horses of the Sui Dynasty formed a square formation, fighting and moving. On the 24th of July, Renyin retreated to the bank of the Sashui River. When the army was halfway across the river, hundreds of thousands of Goguryeo people came to kill them. At this time, the soldiers had been fighting for four consecutive days. After five days of eating only rice porridge, I was already dizzy from hunger. I still had the strength to fight for a while. All the troops in the nine routes were defeated. General Xin Shixiong of Zuotunwei was killed on the spot. The other troops were captured and killed. Countless (Note 1) After the Goguryeo people succeeded in one attack, they immediately chased them from the north bank of Sa River to the south bank of Mazhai River, and fought for more than 300 miles. Thanks to the bravery of the two generals Wang Rengong and Li Jing, they personally Leading the dead soldiers to the rear, the expeditionary force avoided the fate of destruction. By then, the pontoon bridge built by the army on the Mazhai water had long been destroyed by the Goguryeo people. The surviving soldiers used wood and sheepskins as rafts and spent a lot of effort to build it. After crossing the Mazhai River, everyone thought they would be able to escape. However, as soon as they landed, the soldiers from various cities in Goguryeo and the tribes from Liaodong who had stayed behind before the Eastern Expedition came together and fought fiercely. Now, tens of thousands of survivors have been scattered. Except for Xin Shixiong, the commander of the Nine Route Army, who is certain to have died in the battle, there is no news about the ordinary soldiers. They are dead and scattered. The rest
Yu Wenshiji's words were like cold water in the pocket, extinguishing the last glimmer of hope in everyone's hearts. Everyone had originally expected to take out 10,000 or 20,000 of the 300,000 troops. This risk was not in vain. Now, Not only did ten thousand stones of food have to be wasted, but whether everyone could safely return to Huaiyuan Town was also a problem. Wang Yuantong, Qi Poning and others were so angry that they cursed General Zuo Yiwei and Yuwen Shunong regardless of whether Yu Wenshi was right in front of them. Although Li Jiancheng, Qian Jiulong and others were mature and prudent, they were so frustrated that they did not even want to say a word of comfort to Yuwen Shiji.
Only Liu Hongji was still unwilling. He took half a step forward, grabbed Yu Wenshiji's shoulder and asked: "Do you know if there are any remnants of the Sui Dynasty nearby, at Bobu Village? Didn't your father agree with the Tang Dynasty to receive supplies there? ?”
"Remnant soldiers, I don't know that everyone was running for their own lives at that time, so how could they care about others?" Yu Wenshiji shook his head and replied with a wry smile, "As for Bobu Village, my father did send three thousand cavalry to retreat first and go to Bobu Village to greet them. In the morning, I heard from the brothers who were fleeing that the village was still in our hands, but it was surrounded by dozens of Goguryeo soldiers. It had no food and no support. No one could escape alive unless they had wings!"
"I'm going to save Bobo Village!" Liu Hongji suddenly said something, startling everyone.
"Brother Liu, let's..." Li Jiancheng glanced at Yuwen Shiji and swallowed the second half of his sentence back to the outsider. He didn't want to question Liu Hongji's authority, but the food protection army seemed to be huge, and all the soldiers together were Only a few hundred people of more than 800 people went to provoke the tens of thousands of Goguryeo troops. The result was comparable to beating a dog with meat buns.
"Someone must go back and report the news of the defeat of the expeditionary force to His Majesty as soon as possible. We have to rescue the brothers who know that Boli Village is trapped, otherwise they will definitely be slaughtered by the Goguryeo people in less than three days." Liu Hongji thought for a moment
, tried his best to briefly describe his views to several major generals: "If we all withdraw now, the Goguryeo people will be chasing us from all directions. We may not be able to withdraw at all. If some people withdraw first, the other people will fight towards Boli tonight."
The Goguryeo people will not be able to figure out our reality. Even if we cannot save many brothers, we can at least buy a day for those who retreat first..."
"It's true that newborn calves are not afraid of tigers!" Before Liu Hongji could finish speaking, Yu Wenshiji added coldly. This sentence was not originally meant to be derogatory, but it rolled off his tongue, but it was particularly harsh.
"Liu is a humble person, but he dare not forget his duties!" Liu Hongji glanced at Yuwen Shiji and replied calmly.
The cold arrow hit the stone, but Yu Wenshiji saw no effect. He shrugged his shoulders, and with the support of the only remaining personal soldier, he wandered towards the grain bag among the soldiers.
Li Jiancheng looked at his back and curled his lips. He was very disdainful of this guy's behavior. After hesitating for a moment, he whispered to Liu Hongji, "Since Brother Hongji has a countermeasure, I am willing to help Brother Hongji and personally lead the troops to solve the problem."
Siege of Bopi Village As for the useless Yuwen family, please ask Brother Hongji to escort him back to Huaiyuan so that someone can personally confirm to Your Majesty the failure of this expedition!"
"You can't go there!" Liu Hongji shook his head and rejected Li Jiancheng's good intentions.
"Does it mean that Brother Hongji thinks that my martial arts and riding skills are not as good as yours?" Li Jiancheng suddenly turned cold and pretended to be dissatisfied and asked. Although both the forward and retreat routes are dangerous, after all, the retreating troops have a higher chance of survival.
As the eldest son of Duke Tang, I must show some extraordinary courage at critical moments, so as not to embarrass the family.
"Zi Jun didn't know that the danger of retreating was no less than that of moving forward to rescue the siege. If we divided our troops, the retreating troops would have to take away half of the horses and march westward before dark, making the Goguryeo people think that we saw that there was no hope of rescue and that all the troops had been killed.
The troops have to evacuate until nightfall, then we can put away the flags, bury the food, and disappear quietly in the darkness! This method is very risky. If the enemy sees through our true situation, everyone will face disaster!
Liu Hongji lowered his voice and explained to Li Jiancheng, "Therefore, Zigu must personally preside over the retreat of the army. Can he bring back the news of the expeditionary force's defeat in time? Can he let His Majesty the Emperor know what we people did in Liaodong?
It falls on you alone!"
This sentence was tantamount to a farewell to life and death. Li Jiancheng could no longer compete with Liu Hongji, nodded with red eyes, and said in a low voice: "Brother Hongji, don't worry, as long as I am alive, I will not let your deeds be forgotten by the historians!
"
"That's good, let's gather the brothers and tell them the truth!" Liu Hongji stretched out his hand, patted Li Jiancheng's shoulder heavily, then opened his legs and strode to the brothers.
From the moment they saw Yu Wenshi and all the brothers who were guarding the grain, they already knew that all their efforts were in vain. Everyone was anxiously waiting for the general's next arrangement. When they saw Liu Hongji approaching, they immediately stood in front of the woods.
formation
Liu Hongji smiled, and his eyes slowly swept over the faces of the brothers who had been together for more than nine months. After seeing each face clearly, he cleared his throat and said loudly: "The words of the Prince Consort just now must be true."
Everyone has heard it, and I will not repeat that the expeditionary force has been defeated, and our mission of delivering food is over! However, there are still thousands of brothers trapped in Bopi Village, and we cannot just watch their heads being smashed.
People cut them off and built them into pagodas. The feat of delivering food thousands of miles like this requires someone to take it back and let His Majesty the Emperor know about it. So, I decided to divide the team into two halves, with half of the people fighting back and the other half fighting back to Huaiyuan Town to deliver the message.
People rushed forward to pick up the brothers who were trapped in Bobi Village. To be honest, Liu didn't know which side had a better chance of survival. Therefore, Liu didn't order troops. You can choose to go forward and kill.
Those who are willing to go forward with Liu, please stand beside Liu and are willing to take our affairs back to Sui Dynasty, please stand still where you are!"
Having said that, Liu Hongji took three steps back and stood under an ancient pine with a knife in his hand.
There was silence in front of the woods. Only the sound of the wind blowing and the roaring of the pines reached everyone's ears. Eight hundred warriors protecting food. Look at me, I look at you. I don't know how to choose for a moment. Everyone knows that if you move forward, you will probably die.
So I don’t want to give up the colorful world outside me, but I can’t help but see that thousands of people are about to turn into towers of human heads, but no one can bear this thought.
After a moment of hesitation, Li Xu slowly walked towards Liu Hongji. The two were friends. Even though he was a little scared at the moment, he did not want to leave Liu Hongji alone. Warriors Xun, Li Liang and Gao Xiang led their captains forward.
, shook his head with a smile, and quickly followed the three people. As soon as the tiger wing regiment's leader and captain also strode out of the crowd, a large group of soldiers from other regiments and brigades "hurralled" out, quickly
Walking behind Liu Hongji and standing with head held high
Zhang Xiu and several soldiers came to Li Xu, but Li Xu punched him back. "Don't join in the fun. Go back to Huaiyuan. There is a box in my tent. Please help me take the contents back to my hometown." Li Xudun
After a pause, he said calmly: "If I can't come back, please take more care of my parents and Uncle Baosheng!"
"Xu Zi!" Zhang Xiu grinned, tears rolling down his face.
"Come over quickly, don't embarrass our two families!" Li Xu seemed to suddenly become Zhang Xiu's brother, wiping his face and whispering.
"Xu Zi! You must come back!" Zhang Xiu stretched out his hand and wiped his eyes a few times, then stumbled to the other side opposite Liu Hongji. Li Jiancheng, Qian Jiulong, Wang Yuantong, Qi Poning and others stood upright and stood in awe, leading behind them
More than 400 soldiers gave a military salute to Liu Hongji and others
"Baozhong!" Liu Hongji, Li Xu, Qin Ziying and others returned the favor with military salutes. They looked at each other and laughed in the sky at the same time. After laughing, Li Jiancheng ordered his people to set up a battle array and drive more than a thousand war horses in a mighty manner.
Turn around and head west
The sun shines from the west, illuminating more than a hundred war flags raised high, each with the word "Sui" rolled up on it.
Note 1: Sa River, which is now the Qingchuan River, and Mazhai River, which is now the Yalu River. During the Sui Dynasty, Goguryeo was a large oriental tribe that was later destroyed by the Tang Dynasty. It has no direct relationship with the current Goryeo people.
