The mobilization of armies by surrounding forces gave various border officials a good excuse, so they also pretended to be on guard.
Suddenly, all the border gates in Dali mobilized their troops and generals, shocking the people in the border areas.
But after a few days of fear and fear, the people resumed their normal lives after discovering that there was no barbarian invasion.
As long as the barbarians haven't invaded, life will still have to go on.
Under the attention of many forces, Emperor Xin's army finally left the grassland and approached Goguryeo's sphere of influence a few days later.
Unlike a flat grassland, Goguryeo's terrain is mostly dominated by mountains.
The mountainous areas are mostly rocky. Although there is no shortage of water resources, there are not many places suitable for growing crops. Otherwise, with the population of Goguryeo, there is no need to worry about the land and food in Dali.
But there are disadvantages as well as advantages. Although the mountainous areas are not suitable for growing crops, they are easy to defend and difficult to attack. Therefore, Goguryeo is also the place with the fewest wars between the surrounding forces.
This is also the biggest reason why Goguryeo suddenly changed its attitude when facing King Yu's 30,000 troops.
The terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and Goguryeo has more troops. Even if the weapons are not as elite as Dali, relying on the city built according to the terrain, it is easy to resist the attack of Dali army.
In the Goguryeo court, the topic of discussion has become how to deal with Dali's army.
Rely on terrain and city defense or head-on confrontation.
Although some radical generals wanted to have a head-on confrontation with the Dali army from afar and try each other's skills, there were undoubtedly more people who stayed awake.
Since you have the advantages of terrain and city, why give up?
Since the Dali army came from afar, the food and grass they brought would not last long. As long as some elite troops were sent to go around and harass Dali's logistics of transporting food and grass along the way, as time went by, the Dali army would be without food and grass.
, naturally it is self-defeating.
And this method was used by the Dali army who were responsible for defending the city when they invaded Dali. Now they just returned it unchanged.
For Goguryeo, when they dealt with the Dali army, they also had to consider post-war issues.
The surrounding forces covet Goguryeo and they also know that because the people of Goguryeo have the same idea. If other forces are severely weakened, Goguryeo does not recommend dividing it with other forces.
Therefore, they must consider the issue of battle losses.
According to the city's defense, although it seems to be a bit useless, the loss is the smallest among all methods.
If it can retain greater strength, and after eliminating the little tricks of other forces, Goguryeo can take advantage of the morale of Dali to be weakened, invade the border of Dali with the power of victory, and take advantage of the victory to plunder.
As a result, the army led by Emperor Xin swaggered into Goguryeo's sphere of influence and set up camp less than twenty miles away from the city.
…
In the newly built camp, the one that was heavily surrounded to the middle was still the big tent belonging to the commander Di Xin.
Ouyang Xuan stepped into the tent.
This was a pre-war combat meeting. Xizi had temporarily left, replaced by a room full of generals, and Ouyang Xuan was the last one to come in.
A map as tall as one person has been set up in front of the office desk. In the center of the tent is a simple sand table. Because we have just entered Goguryeo and there has not yet been a formal battle, there is only a simple terrain on the sand table, and the movements of the armies of both sides are not marked on it.
.
Di Xin stood between the map and the sand table, while the other generals stood around the sand table in order.
It was not yet time to deduce the battle situation, and the sand table was not very useful, so everyone's eyes fell on the map. A red line on the map marked their attack route.
Although the barbarians were to be pacified this time, it was not like the last time they dealt with the Turks, where they suddenly divided their forces to deal with all the Turkic tribes.
Unlike the loosely united Turks, Goguryeo, like Dali, was a feudal country where imperial power was supreme, and the greatest power was in the hands of the royal family.
If you want to deal with Goguryeo, directly occupying the capital is the best and fastest way. The barbarians Di Xin wants to pacify this time are all the forces around Dali, so time must be raced against the clock.
Therefore, the attack route marked in red on the map is the shortest route from here to the capital of Goguryeo.
However, the shortest route is not the best route. Compared with this route, after detouring some places, although the distance will be increased, it is not that difficult to attack.
When Ouyang Xuan entered the tent, these generals were arguing over whether to modify the route.
However, Di Xin did not participate in the discussion, neither expressing support nor objection, and just watched them quarreling quietly.
Until Ouyang Xuan came in.
After Ouyang Xuan reached his seat, Di Xin asked, "Has everything been arranged?"
Ouyang Xuan cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, everything has been arranged. I guarantee that no one will notice anything unusual."
"very good."
Di Xin nodded slightly, then raised his hand to suppress the voices in the tent.
He pressed his hands on the edge of the sand table, looked around at everyone, and then gave the order: "Take a rest tonight and start attacking the city at noon tomorrow."
"As for the issues you discussed..."
An inexplicable smile appeared on the corner of Di Xin's mouth and he said: "You can discuss it after we capture the city in front of you tomorrow."
Although the generals were still a little unwilling to resolve the dispute, since Prince Yu gave the order, they had no choice but to drop the topic for the time being.
And His Highness King Yu is right, if we cannot capture the city in front of us, then no matter which route we take in the future, it will be meaningless.
"I humble my duty and obey my orders."
Di Xin was very satisfied with their answers, and then said to Ouyang Xuan: "Ouyang, please tell me about tomorrow's siege plan."
"Yes, Your Highness"
Ouyang Xuan took over the conversation, waited until everyone's attention shifted to him, tightened his expression and said seriously: "That's it, tomorrow we..."
As Ouyang Xuan narrated, everyone's expressions gradually became confused, and then slowly realized.
After Ouyang Xuan finished speaking, the soldiers quickly fell into a new round of discussion.
This time it is a detailed discussion of the battle plan.
…
At the same time, within the city less than twenty miles away from the military camp, a messenger wearing the clothes of a Goguryeo soldier walked quickly to the door of the combat hall.
"Report..."
"Come in."
In the battle hall, a rich voice came out from the same Korean dialect.