Facing His Majesty Li Er's reprimand, Zhang Jian remained silent, but he felt quite dissatisfied.
He doesn't understand the emperor's mentality, and he doesn't want to care about balance. He is just a pure soldier, and he will win without fighting. In his opinion, the navy that travels across the sea is not used, just to balance the interests of the various factions in the court.
It's just downright stupid.
Without the navy's control, how many people would have to die in vain?
Furthermore, there is no sure-win war in the world. During the Sui Dynasty, the country was at its peak and its troops and horses were strong. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was also a heroic leader with great talents and strategies. In the end, not only did his three eastern expeditions return without success, but even the situation in the court was turbulent.
The world is full of flames of war, thus dooming the country?
In every battle, you should try your best to maximize your own advantages. If you still lose, there is nothing to say. But if you fail because you did not try your best, wouldn't it become the biggest joke in the world?
Goguryeo had a vast territory and strong soldiers and horses, so it was not a soft persimmon!
So far, although the Tang army has been marching straight into uninhabited territory, it is mostly because Goguryeo has fortified its walls and cleared the country and retreated step by step. In this city of Anshi, Goguryeo will definitely fight to the death to protect the city. The Tang army will encounter a battle.
An extremely hard battle.
At this time, you still want to balance the interests of all parties and put the powerful navy aside and ignore it. This is what a wise man would not do...
His Majesty Li Er looked at Zhang Jian's unhappy face and had a headache. This man had too high qualifications and enough merits. He could not reprimand him like he reprimanded Zhou Daowu, so he could only say: "The Duke of Wancheng County is in the military and has rich experience.
It’s just that the strategy of the Eastern Expedition has long been formulated, and hundreds of thousands of troops are acting according to the plan. How can we change it rashly at this time? Needless to say, the army will rest for two days. Regardless of whether the heavy rain stops after two days, the entire army will storm Anshi City!"
War is the best way to resolve all disputes. As long as the war starts, everyone must unconditionally obey the formulated strategy. If you have any opinions, you can only keep them. If anyone debates those strategies and tactics at this time, it will shake the morale of the military.
Zhang Jian naturally knew what His Majesty Li Er meant. Although he was dissatisfied and dared to argue with a stiff neck, he was by no means a stubborn fool. He bowed his hands and said: "Wei Chen obeys the order! Wei Chen is willing to work with the Duke of E to attack An."
In the city, the enemy's city cannot be broken and the enemy's position cannot be taken!"
Your Majesty Li Er knows that this man is extremely brave. Even though he is older now, his blood has not faded. He is angry with himself right now. If he agrees to his request, he will probably fight to the death. If he doesn't succeed, he will be benevolent!
So he shook his head and said: "There is no need for this, all the troops can perform their duties. The Duke of E is so brave, why should others help him? You and I will watch the enemy's formation and watch the Duke of E break the enemy city!"
"
"Here!"
Zhang Jian did not dare to say anything and stepped aside.
His Majesty Li Er looked around at everyone and said solemnly: "If there is gunpowder to blow up the enemy city, casualties can naturally be reduced. But when there is no gunpowder, how can we be afraid of any strong city in the world? The ambition of the Tigers of the Tang Dynasty has always been to sweep across
Yu Nei, cleanse the heroes. All the enemies standing in front of us can only be defeated and surrendered in the end! According to my general's order, Anshi City will be attacked by force in two days. No matter what the cost of casualties, this city must be destroyed.
, the victory of the Eastern Expedition is unstoppable!"
"Here!"
The generals responded with a roar.
His Majesty Li Er turned his eyes on the faces of Xue Wanche and Ashina Simo, and said calmly: "Recently, many military commanders have come to report to me, saying that some generals have violated military regulations and should be severely punished!
I know that your expedition will not be easy, so I have been suppressing it. But I want to warn you, don’t think that after winning two battles, you will forget about it and get carried away. Military regulations are not a child’s play. If you don’t repent, don’t blame me for not thinking about love!”
Xue Wanche was startled and said hurriedly: "I obey the order!"
Ashina Simo was most afraid of His Majesty Li Er. He was almost scared out of his wits in front of His Majesty Li Er. He knelt on the ground with a "pop" and said in a trembling voice: "The general will realize his crime and will never dare to do it again!"
In his heart, he cursed Xue Wanche, who was bewitching him to do whatever he wanted and enjoy himself, for what a bullshit "general surrender theory" it was, it was clearly harmful to people...
Everyone was stunned. Seeing Ashina Simo's reaction, they didn't know that His Majesty Li Er was talking about him. They just didn't know what mistake the Great Khan made that made His Majesty Li Er issue an order...
His Majesty Li Er looked at Ashina Simo kneeling on the ground and was speechless.
I don't mention names or surnames, just to give you a warning and save face for you. After all, you have all surrendered to me, and you will inevitably be incompatible with the other ministers. This will make it difficult for you in the future, so I did not pursue it.
But if you kneel down like this, all my good intentions are in vain...
His Majesty Li Er was speechless for a long time, and could only stroke his forehead and said: "Okay, there is no way to improve if you know your mistakes. How can I be a mean and ungrateful person? Get up quickly."
Ashina Simo then stood up, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, lowered his head and did not dare to say a word...
*****
After capturing Jian'an City, the army received a steady stream of supplies from the navy. After resting for a while, part of the army continued southward to sweep away the remaining enemy strongholds between Jian'an City and Beisha City, while most of the army set off eastward to attack Anshi City.
.
On May 21st, 200,000 troops had arrived at the Tang Army's camp on the bank of Yanshui outside Anshi City. The morale was high, the troops were well prepared, and the entire army was waiting to storm Anshi City.
The heavy rain still continues.
Although it is rainy in summer in Liaodong, heavy rains that have continued for many days are extremely rare, which inevitably caused the morale of the Tang army to decline.
After all, with such rare weather, sometimes it is inevitable that people feel that God is helping Goguryeo...
His Majesty Li Er didn't care so much. On May 22nd, the army began to attack the city.
Hundreds of thousands of troops surrounded Anshi City, and Yuchi Gong led his troops to launch a strong attack at the west city gate.
First, they tried to storm the city and lay gunpowder in the heavy rain. As a result, the rain was too heavy. The enemies on the city threw rolling logs and stones crazily. The Tang army who was hiding under the chariot and trying to get close to the city wall was knocked over by the huge stone and wood falling from the sky.
The losses were heavy, and the gunpowder could not be ignited even when exposed to rain, so they had to give up the idea of blowing up the city wall and the whole army launched a desperate attack.
One by one, the soldiers rushed to the city and erected the ladders. The soldiers held the horizontal knives in their mouths and braved the arrows to climb up. However, in an instant, the enemy soldiers on the city used long poles to push the ladders over.
, the soldiers of the Tang army who had climbed halfway fell into the muddy water.
The Tang army erected a tall chariot, and the soldiers climbed to the top of the chariot, which was almost at the same height as the enemy troops on the city wall, and wildly fired arrows at it.
The Tang army's arrow clusters had stronger armor-piercing capabilities, and the enemy troops on the wall fell down like wheat. However, even if their companions soon came up to replenish them, they still maintained a suppressive posture against the Tang army below the city.
There are more than 200,000 defenders in Anshi City, and the troops are abundant. This means that the Goguryeo people have made a strategy of clearing the country and standing firm to wait for reinforcements. Otherwise, such a large number of troops would be enough to start a large-scale field battle with the Tang army!
Of course, the reason why the Goguryeo people could not retreat was because they knew the gap between themselves and the Tang army. Regardless of the ordnance, equipment or the quality of their soldiers, they were not even a little bit lower than the Tang army. If they held on to the city, they might still have a slight chance of winning. If they went out to fight in the field,
Just asking for your own death...
As soon as the siege began, it fell into an extremely brutal and hard-fought battle.
The Tang army was not afraid of death, and charged to the death despite rolling logs, rocks, and rain of arrows. The soldiers stepped on Pao Ze's body and tried to set up a ladder on top of the enemy's city. The enemy soldiers on the city also braved the rain of arrows fired from the Tang army's chariot.
, with red eyes, they overturned the ladders of the Tang Army one by one, because they knew that the quality of the soldiers on both sides was very different. Once the Tang Army climbed to the top of the city, it meant that a difficult street battle was about to happen, and they could not resist it at all.
The Tang army was as fierce as a tiger.
Tens of thousands of troops surrounded the east city wall, and with the sound of trumpets, they continued to attack in the pouring rain.
Yuchi Gong was riding on a horse with his helmet on, holding a horizontal sword at his waist, holding the line at the back.
His eyes penetrated the heavy rain to the bottom of the city, where countless soldiers of the Tang army were killed and shot by the enemy's rolling logs, stones and arrows. The corpses had been laid out on one floor. The soldiers behind had no time to collect Paoze's corpse, and just stepped on it.
On the body of the dead Paoze, he continued to attack frantically with gritted teeth.
Siege warfare has always been the most brutal form of war, bar none.
"Encircle it ten times, attack it five times, and divide it if you double it." This is the strategy of Sun Wu, the sage of war. Although the overall quality of the Goguryeo army is very different from that of the Tang army, Anshi City, which is defended by 200,000 Goguryeo troops, is