Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

If these 5 soldiers of Baekje could have entered the city, the Tang army could have avoided siege and thus reduced casualties.

Du He turned to Wang Jun'e and ordered, "General Wang, you will replace Su Dingfang and lead 5000 Baekje warriors to attack the city!"

"As ordered!"

Wang Jun nodded in surprise, then rode away.

There was silence for a few moments.

Li Ji frowned and asked in confusion: "Why is there no movement from the South Gate?"

Regardless of whether the South Gate is a trap or not, the battle at the North Gate has lasted so long that the insiders in Pyongyang City should have opened the gate.

But now there is no movement, could it be that Yeon Gaesomun is playing tricks on them?

Du He shook his head and replied, "General Manager Li, I'm afraid something unexpected happened in the city, which made the people in the city unable to move."

"Whether the South Gate can be opened or not, we will continue to attack the North Gate. As for the 5000 Baekje soldiers, let them watch over the South Gate."

Hearing Du He's words, several generals around him nodded in agreement.

After three consecutive days and nights of attacks by the Tang army, the gap in the wall of the north gate became larger and larger, and the Goguryeo defenders were replaced one after another.

“Stop for a moment!”

"If the fighting continues, everyone on both sides will die!"

On the city wall, Goguryeo soldiers who were fighting desperately against Baekje's vanguard shouted at the Baekje soldiers who were rushing up.

We are all low-level soldiers, so why are we fighting so hard?

What is the purpose?

However, these Baekje soldiers who wanted to be crowned kings ignored the Baekje soldiers' calls. They held their spears and thrust forward with all their might.

"Dang~"

With a series of loud noises, the Goguryeo defenders were instantly forced back.

"good chance!"

Baekje soldiers took the opportunity to rush onto the city wall.

Before he could be happy, Goguryeo soldiers swarmed in like a tide and instantly turned the Baekje soldiers who had rushed onto the city wall into a hornet's nest.

outside the city.

The central army camp.

Hou Junji frowned and said, "We have lost 3 Baekje soldiers in three days, but we still haven't been able to break into the city wall. The Goguryeo defenders in Pyongyang are quite powerful!"

"Du He, tomorrow you can ask Xi Jun to buy 5000 Baekje soldiers from the South Gate and transfer them over to attack the city."

After several days, there was still no sign of the South Gate opening, and they had given up that attack point.

Du He nodded and said, "Okay!"

Night falls.

Two war horses came galloping from the official road in the south. The Tang soldiers on the horses showed their identity tokens and quickly ran towards the central army camp.

"Reporting to Deputy Chief Du, General Xue Rengui has recruited 3 soldiers in Baekje and is heading north under the supervision of 500 cavalrymen."

"Based on their speed, these 3 Baekje soldiers are expected to arrive in two days."

Hearing Xue Rengui's quick movements, Du He asked in surprise.

"How did Xue Rengui gather 3 soldiers so easily? Didn't King Uija and Baekje's ministers put up any obstacles?"

There are few adult men in the territory of Baekje now, and it is not an easy task to recruit 3 soldiers in just a few days.

The soldier replied respectfully, "Replying to Deputy General Du, King Uija and the ministers of Baekje reacted strongly at first and were unwilling to order the recruitment of soldiers."

"General Xue killed more than a dozen of the ministers who were the most vocal in their opposition, and threatened the lives of King Yici's sons, and only then did King Yici bow his head and agree."

Du He's expression paused.

I didn't expect that Xue Rengui, this elegant and brave general, actually has such an iron-blooded hand. It seems that he was greatly influenced by him.

Du He said to the two soldiers, "You have worked hard. Go down and have something to eat first."

"promise!"

After the two soldiers left, Du He walked into the commander's tent with a happy face and told the good news to Hou Junji, Li Ji and others.

Hou Junji said excitedly, slapping the table.

"Great!"

"With the addition of these 3 fresh troops, we can continue to deplete the Goguryeo defenders!"

Although the soldiers of Baekje could not enter the city after a long siege, the casualties of Goguryeo's soldiers were also extremely heavy. After another three to five days of bloody fighting, the Tang army could launch a large-scale attack and reap the rewards.

...

The next day.

Inside the main hall of the Pyongyang Imperial Palace.

Unlike the fierce battle at the north gate, the hall was extremely quiet, with a sense of peace and prosperity.

"Cough cough~"

Yeon Gaesomun, who was sitting on the throne, coughed twice, looked at the civil and military ministers, and then fell on the general with a leopard head and round eyes.

"General Yang, how is the battle going at the North Gate?"

The leopard-headed, round-eyed general had a smug look on his face, and he raised his head slightly and replied.

"Reporting to King Shenwu, although the city wall was breached by the Tang army, the gap is not large. I have ordered the fence to be used to block it."

"In these four days of fighting, we have wiped out nearly 4 Tang troops. They can't cause any trouble!"

All the civil and military officials in the hall had expressions of relief and surprise on their faces.

The Tang army attacked desperately day and night, which scared them at first. But after realizing that the Tang army suffered heavy casualties, they all relaxed.

What is there to fear from such a weak Tang army?

Yeon Gaesomun smiled and asked, "General Yang, how many casualties did our soldiers suffer?"

"Reporting to King Shenwu, there are more than 15,000 casualties."

"That's right! General Yang is worthy of being the number one general under my command!"

Yeon Gaesomun slapped the table and praised excitedly.

Since the Tang army invaded Goguryeo, they had never tried to annihilate so many Tang troops in one battle, and their own casualties were less than half of those of the Tang army.

With great joy, Yeon Gaesomun stood up and spoke loudly.

"My dear ministers, tomorrow is my coronation ceremony. Everyone, go down and prepare now!"

"As ordered!"

A group of civil and military officials cheered loudly.

After leaving the hall, the great envoy, with a gleam in his eyes, curled up the corner of his mouth into a sneer and muttered to himself.

"What a bunch of idiots! They can't even tell the difference between Tang troops and Baekje soldiers!"

After muttering to himself, he left the group of court officials and walked quickly out of the palace.

When night falls.

The soldiers in charge of monitoring the South Gate discovered a large amount of silk cloth with words written on it hanging on the wood and floating down.

He took a few pieces of wet silk cloth and hurried to the central military camp to report.

Hou Junji held the silk and read aloud, "Tomorrow at noon, Yeon Gaesomun will hold the coronation ceremony. The palace will catch fire. Will the South Gate be opened?"

Hearing that the Goguryeo officials in the city had used this trick again, the generals spoke angrily.

"Are you doing this again?"

A few days ago, they sent 5000 soldiers to hide at the South Gate for three days, but in the end there was no movement at all.

Du He shook his head and said, "Whether it's true or not, send 5000 soldiers to guard there."

Hou Junji and Li Ji nodded at the same time and said, "Okay!"

The two generals agreed at the same time and decided to send troops to the South Gate to wait for the opportunity to fight.

Zhang Liang smacked his lips, with a hint of mockery on his face.

The next day.

When the sun rises.

The 3 newly recruited reinforcements of Baekje finally arrived at the Tang army camp under the escort of 500 Tang cavalry.

Hou Junji shook his head and said, "Baekje really has no more soldiers to recruit. The people who came here are old and young, and I don't know if they can lift the spears!"