Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

Upon hearing about the promotion and title, Xi Junmai and Xue Rengui's faces became extremely excited, and they bowed to Li Chengqian.

"I swear to serve His Royal Highness the Crown Prince till death!"

They fought to the death and killed the enemy just to be awarded titles of nobility and generals and to bring honor to their family.

Li Chengqian nodded, waved his hand and said: "You have just experienced a great battle, and your bodies must be exhausted. Go down and rest now."

"I will have someone slaughter more war horses later to reward you meritorious officials."

Many war horses would die in every major battle, and horse meat would be the victor’s dinner.

"Thank you, Your Highness! I will take my leave first."

After the three of them clasped their fists and saluted, they quickly left the City Lord's Mansion.

Knowing that Hou Junji had led his army to a great victory, Li Chengqian finally felt relieved.

He wrote a letter himself, and then shouted, "Someone come!"

Soon, a guard guarding the door came running in: "Your Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Chengqian handed the imperial edict to his personal guard and said in a loud voice: "Take my imperial edict and ask the logistics officer to cook more horses. I will reward the three armies tonight!"

"promise!"

After the personal guard saluted respectfully, he quickly left with the imperial edict, looking delighted.

Because the logistics supply line from the Tang Dynasty to Goguryeo was difficult to navigate, the Tang army was under great logistical pressure.

Although there is no shortage of food at this stage, meat is very scarce, and the soldiers under him cannot eat meat every day.

The prince is rewarding the three armies today, and there will definitely be a lot of meat.

"Great!"

"Hou Junji is indeed a tiger general!"

Li Chengqian waved his fists excitedly and kept muttering to himself.

After a moment of excitement, Li Chengqian asked Du He happily, "Du He, now that the Goguryeo enemy troops in Anshi City have been defeated, can we send troops to attack Liaodong City?"

"After we capture Liaodong City, I will report the results of the recent battles to my father!"

Li Chengqian just wanted to show off. What Emperor Yang of Sui could not accomplish with a million soldiers, Li Chengqian accomplished with just over 100,000 soldiers.

Let the ministers who were not optimistic about him open their eyes and see clearly that he was the most qualified crown prince of the Tang Dynasty.

Du He saw through Li Chengqian's intention, shook his head gently and said, "Your Highness, the time is not right yet."

"Why?"

Li Chengqian frowned and asked with some confusion.

Hou Junji is such a good fighter, and now he has joined forces with Zhang Jian's troops. How difficult will it be to attack Liaodong City?

Du He patiently analyzed it for him.

"The terrain around Liaodong City is very complex. The city walls are built on the mountain and blocked by a large river. In addition, there are many defenders inside the city."

"In addition to the difficulty of attacking Liaodong City itself, in order to protect this important city, Goguryeo will definitely send a large army to rescue it."

"By then, we will have to resist tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of Goguryeo reinforcements."

There are some strong cities that can withstand the siege of an army of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands even with only a few thousand defenders.

For example, in the Battle of Xuyi, hundreds of thousands of cavalrymen of the Northern Wei Dynasty were unable to capture the small city of Huainan which had only 3000 defenders.

Li Chengqian suddenly realized and asked, "Du He, do you mean to wait for Li Ji's troops to come together before attacking Liaodong City?"

Du He smiled and said, "That's right. After General Li Ji takes Gaimu City, we will attack Liaodong City from the north and south."

"It just so happens that Zhang Jian's troops have thousands of wounded soldiers, so they can have a good rest these few days."

Li Chengqian nodded, and then said: "Du He, let's go see the wounded in Zhang Jian's army, and comfort the soldiers."

The army was defeated and now morale is low, and the soldiers are in low spirits.

Moreover, we will have to tackle the tough challenge of Liaodong City later on, and we will have to adjust our status in time.

When Du He saw Li Chengqian taking the initiative to care about his subordinates, a gratified smile appeared on his face, and he quickly stood up and said.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince loves his soldiers like his own sons. This is truly a blessing for the soldiers under his command!"

Li Chengqian smiled slightly. He was very pleased with Du He's words.

Northeast corner of the city.

In the temporary camp of Zhang Jian’s troops.

"See His Highness the Crown Prince!"

When the soldiers saw Li Chengqian and Du He walking into the camp on a sedan chair, they stopped and saluted.

Hearing the shouts of the soldiers outside, Zhang Jian and several generals hurriedly ran out of the wounded soldiers' tent. They came to the sedan chair and saluted.

"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and greetings to Deputy Chief Steward Du!"

Li Chengqian waved his hand and said in a deep voice: "No need to be polite, I'm here to see the wounded."

Hearing Li Chengqian's words, the soldiers present all showed expressions of gratitude.

Under the leadership of Zhang Jian, Li Chengqian and Du He walked around the wounded soldiers' tent.

When these wounded soldiers saw the prince coming to visit them in person, they looked even more ashamed.

The commander-in-chief Zhang Jian had told them not long ago that the expedition against Goguryeo was related to the status of the crown prince, and that the devastating defeat they had suffered almost ruined the overall situation.

Before leaving, Li Chengqian told Zhang Jian: "General Zhang, you must take good care of the wounded. Meat will be provided to you first."

"Thank you, Your Highness the Crown Prince!"

Zhang Jian looked at the departing sedan chair and clenched his hands into fists.

On the way back to the City Lord’s Mansion.

Du He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Half of these wounded soldiers are only slightly injured. They can return to the battle after a few days of rest. This is a blessing in disguise!"

Li Chengqian's expression also looked much more relaxed.

...

More than two hours passed.

Before nightfall, Hou Junji finally led his army back.

Inside the city lord's palace.

Hou Junji reported with a delighted look on his face: "Your Highness, in this battle we have annihilated a total of 22585 enemies, while Zhang Jian's troops previously annihilated 4058."

"176 of our troops were killed and 429 were injured."

"We seized 3295 war horses, more than 3 sets of armor, and more than 3 weapons."

"I also recovered the weapons and cooking utensils that Zhang Jian's troops had discarded."

When counting the results of the battle, he sent his soldiers to the place where Zhang Jian and the vanguard of Huaiyuan City started fighting. They only found more than 4000 corpses of Goguryeo soldiers.

"Good, good, good!" Li Chengqian stood up excitedly and said three good words in a row.

With a smile on his face, he said to Hou Junji: "General Hou, I have come down to kill horses and sheep to reward the three armies. Later, I will toast to you, the great hero!"

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Hou Junji saluted with a smile.

After these two battles, their central army had annihilated more than 3 enemy troops.

They killed more enemies than Li Ji and his main force.

Although Du He had a happy expression on his face, he was thinking about how to fight the next battle.

Now that Goguryeo has been beaten so badly, Yeon Gaesomun will not surrender.

It depends on whether he will draw reinforcements from other places, continue to recruit soldiers in Liaodong, or transfer troops from his younger brother Mohe.

...

The central army and Zhang Jian's troops rested in Huaiyuan City for 8 days.

And the time has come to March 3th.

The chilly spring breeze sobers me up from the drunken stupor. In March in Liaodong area, the weather is still a little chilly, but it is much warmer than in February.

Inside the city lord's palace.

Su Dingfang held the latest battle report sent by Li Ji and read it aloud.

"On March 3, I and the march commander Zhang Shigui led the army to annihilate a reinforcement from Baiyan City, killing 15 enemies and capturing 7515 of them."

"According to the information sent back by the spies, Goguryeo is now mobilizing heavy troops in many places."

"In order to avoid any more trouble, I have decided to attack Gaimu City in two days, and then join forces with the Central Army to encircle Liaodong City."

After Su Dingfang finished reading the battle report, the hall was quiet for a moment.