In the absence of the Grand Administrator, although Du Shihui was the Sima of Fanyang County, King Junlin completely delegated power over the past year, leaving Du Ruhui in charge of civil affairs. Du Ruhui also gradually established his prestige in Fanyang County.
But after all, his prestige cannot be compared with that of Wang Junlin, and his order to force the people to move into the city was incomprehensible to most officials, nobles, and people in the counties. So he has been busy running back and forth among the counties recently to urge them.
, and the person in charge of the county government is Liu Ziming.
Du Ruhui saw Liu Ziming in the county government office who had already gotten up and started working on official documents. The two sat down and a child brought two cups of freshly boiled tea. Liu Ziming smiled and said: "I have been drinking boiled hot water for the past few months.
, I’m used to it. It was too hot last night, so I couldn’t help but drink a cup of deep well water to dispel the heat. As a result, my stomach felt bad. It seems that my living habits need to change from now on.”
"Yes! Once the plague breaks out, there is almost no cure. It is better to be a little more troublesome and careful than to be careless. Fortunately, we have not found a single case of the epidemic in Fanyang County so far, which makes me quite pleased."
"This is the credit of Mr. Du. When Mr. Du ordered everyone in the county to enter the city, closed the city gates, and prohibited people from entering or exiting, I still remember the complaints. Looking back now, if I didn't do this, there would definitely be people infected with the disease.
I don't know how many people will die in Fanyang County if you sneak into the city. I admire Master Du very much for this. If I were to do this, I wouldn't have as strong an iron fist as you."
Speaking of this, Liu Ziming sighed, this incident made him sincerely admire Du Ruhui.
Du Ruhui smiled, shook his head and said: "I only do things according to the orders of the prefect. After all, the measures and regulations of the prefect are very effective. Speaking of which, our prefect is really amazing. He can predict everything in advance.
, it’s really unbelievable, sometimes I almost doubt that the prefect can predict the future.”
Liu Ziming immediately nodded heavily, expressing his deep agreement, and said: "Yes! As soon as the Grand Administrator arrived in Fanyang County, everything he did was to prepare for what would happen after His Majesty's conquest of Goguryeo failed. To be honest, although I have not been
I agreed with His Majesty’s expedition to Goguryeo, but I never thought that we in the Sui Dynasty would lose. However, the emergence of this epidemic and the recent news from Liaodong have made me doubt whether the Sui Dynasty’s million-strong army can defeat Goguryeo.”
Du Ruhui said with a complex expression: "If the Grand Administrator has long expected the defeat of the Sui Dynasty, there may be traces of this. After all, His Majesty has long said that he would personally conquer the country, and the Grand Administrator may have judged it from His Majesty's character.
Your Majesty's stubbornness will seriously affect the generals' command of the war. But it is incredible that the prefect could predict this epidemic in advance."
Liu Ziming sighed and said: "I won't talk about it anymore. Haven't you created too many miracles by the governor? It doesn't matter if you expected the disease in the expedition army in advance. By the way, you came to me this early in the morning. Is there anything wrong with you?"
matter?"
Du Ruhui immediately looked solemn and said: "There is indeed something I need to discuss with you. I originally ordered the city to be closed for one month, but it will expire in a few days. I want to extend the city closure for another month."
Liu Ziming frowned slightly and said, "Does Mr. Du think there is still an epidemic?"
Du Ruhui nodded, "I received news from Beiping County, Youzhou early this morning that a large number of soldiers fled from Goguryeo, tens of thousands of them in one day, and many of them were infected with the disease. Some soldiers said that the Sui Army Defeated in Goguryeo."
Liu Ziming was shocked and lost his voice: "Did His Majesty lead an army of one million really defeated by the Koreans?"
Du Ruhui smiled bitterly and said: "I don't know whether it is really defeated as the prefect expected, but the epidemic broke out and soldiers fled in large numbers, so the future is probably not good."
At this moment, someone reported at the door: "Two adults, there is news from Liaodong."
Du Ruhui quickly stood up and walked to the outside of the county government office. Liu Ziming also followed him out. He saw a spy under Shen Guoer standing in front of the steps. When he saw Du Ruhui and Liu Ziming coming out, he quickly knelt down on one knee and saluted: "I'm humble. They are the spies under Commander Shen who came all the way south from the Liaodong City of Goguryeo to report the Liaodong battle report to the two adults."
"How is the situation in Liaodong?" Liu Ziming asked urgently first.
"General Shan Xiongxin, who was sent by the prefect of Liaodong City, led a small team to blast open the city wall with gunpowder. The Sui army finally captured Liaodong City. However, General Wang Rengong, who was sent to chase the fleeing Goguryeo army, was ambushed by the Goguryeo people and suffered heavy losses. Your Majesty He killed Wang Rengong and forcibly ordered the nine armies to continue marching. Unexpectedly, Yu Wenshu led the main force to a defeat in Sashui. All 300,000 troops fled, and only more than 10,000 people returned to camp. There were also large numbers of deserters from other armies. The civilians have suffered heavy casualties due to the epidemic, and there is a shortage of food and grass supplies. The emperor has issued an order to dispatch troops!"
…
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In the sixth year of Daye, the first Goryeo War launched by Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty ended in an anticlimactic way.
When the morale of the army was lost, morale was low, there was an epidemic in the army, and there were problems with the supply of food and grass, Yang Guang forcibly ordered nine armies, totaling more than 800,000 people, to cross the Yalu River and march towards Pyongyang, the capital of Korea.
Yuwenshu led a main force of 300,000 people. When crossing the Sa River, he had to withdraw in a panic because of the lack of food. Yuan Taizuo sent cavalry to follow him all the way to make a sneak attack. At first, Yuwenshu responded well and did not reveal any flaws. Unfortunately, the Sui army The morale of the army had collapsed, and the army was finally defeated. The soldiers fled for their lives. Only about 10,000 of the 300,000-strong army escaped. After receiving the news, the Eighth Route Army also hurriedly withdrew, which also caused varying degrees of rout.
At this time, the epidemic finally broke out in the army, killing three to four out of ten people. After Yang Guang was extremely angry, he finally had no choice but to detain Yuwenshu and ordered the troops to be dispatched, ending the first Goryeo War.
The war took four and a half years to prepare, consumed almost half of the country's power, and killed millions of people. If we don't count the majority of Annan County occupied by the waterway army led by King An of Qin, Junlin, in the end, only Liaodong was occupied on the east bank of the Liao River. The city ended in such a hurry and almost hastily.
A million-strong army went to Goryeo and finally withdrew to Zhuojun, Youzhou. Only more than 400,000 soldiers were left, and more than 600,000 people were lost. As for the civilians, more than one million people died of illness.
This is a confusing account that is difficult to settle. No one can tell how many people died in battle, how many fled, and how many died of illness. However, the outcome is obvious and cannot be changed just by occupying Liaodong City and half of Annan County.
In short, His Majesty the Sui Emperor led millions of Sui troops to conquer Goryeo and it was considered a failure, and it failed miserably.