Li Shimin faked his death? Then I will be powerful enough to conquer the world!

At this critical moment that determined the fate of Goguryeo, Gao Zang, the Goguryeo king who had long been regarded as a puppet, issued the first and last substantive order to the army.

In the past, although he wore the crown, he was just a puppet in the hands of Yeon Gaesomun. His orders were not carried out and his authority was lost. He was trapped in the center of the palace's power struggle. He had the title of king but no power to exercise.

Now, when the shadow of death weighed heavily on the entire Goguryeo, this order instantly ignited the flame of unwillingness in the hearts of every Goguryeo person.

It also adds a touch of heroic color to the city of Pyongyang, which is about to collapse.

Gao Zang stared quietly at the slowly opening city gate. With a dull creaking sound, the city gate retreated to both sides little by little, like an old man on his last legs, struggling to open his arms for the last time.

Gao Zang's hands trembled slightly as he pulled the reins, his eyes fixed on the open battlefield in front of him. There were the Tang army's flags like a forest, the end of Goguryeo's fate, and the place where they could finally regain their dignity.

"Da Molizhi, I will die with you. Before I die, can you call me king?"

Gao Zang's voice was slightly hoarse, and his eyes were staring straight ahead without blinking.

When Yeon Gaesomun heard Gao Zang's words, he was stunned at first, and then a self-deprecating smile appeared on his face.

"Is that all you ask? Don't you want to cut me into pieces?"

His voice was bitter.

Once, in order to obtain supreme power, he did not hesitate to use any means to push Gao Zang onto the throne, which seemed noble but was actually a puppet. He himself firmly controlled the government power behind the scenes and manipulated every step of Goguryeo.

Back then, had he ever imagined the situation would turn out like this? Now, facing Gao Zang's seemingly simple request, he felt a mixture of emotions.

When Gao Zang heard Yeon Gaesomun's response, he slowly turned his head and looked straight at Yeon Gaesomun's face.

The resentment in his eyes had disappeared, replaced by a kind of open-mindedness. At this moment when the country was destroyed and the people were about to die, he let go of all his love, hatred, and emotions, and saw through the impermanence of fate.

"Of course I have. Countless nights, I've dreamed of slicing you into pieces to relieve the hatred in my heart and make you pay a heavy price for what you've done."

"But now, everything is different."

He paused, a look of sadness in his eyes.

"Goguryeo is about to be destroyed. What do our so-called grudges mean?"

"If the Tang army hadn't relied on those incredibly powerful cannons, how could Goguryeo have been defeated so easily?"

"You've worked tirelessly for Goguryeo all along the way, and our Goguryeo soldiers have also fought with all their might!"

"Now that so many people are rushing to the underworld together, the road to the underworld is not lonely at all. Don't you think so, Da Molizhi?"

Yeon Gaesomun listened quietly to Gao Zang's words, his lips moved slightly, but no sound came out in the end.

He had thousands of words in his heart, wanting to express his regret for his previous decision, his guilt towards the people of Goguryeo, and his complex emotions towards the puppet king in front of him who had been toyed with by him. But at this moment, all the words were choked in his throat and turned into a silent sigh.

Seeing that Yeon Gaesomun did not speak, Gao Zang did not ask any further questions.

He took a deep breath, as if trying to draw the last bit of courage in the world into his lungs.

He squeezed the horse's belly with his legs. The warhorse under his crotch felt the pain, neighed loudly, raised its front hooves, and rushed forward.

Gao Zang raised the sword high in his hand, announcing to the world the last act of Goguryeo's unyielding spirit.

"kill!"

Just this one word struck hard on the hearts of every Goguryeo people, and in an instant, the cry of killing shook the sky.

When the Goguryeo cavalry behind him heard this roar, flames ignited in their eyes, and all of them believed that they would die.

They followed Gao Zang's figure closely and rushed towards the Tang army camp.

The sound of horse hooves shattered the tranquility of the earth, and the raised dust covered the sky.

Yeon Gaesomun looked at Gao Zang's fearless figure sprinting forward, and suddenly felt an inexplicable emotion and respect in his heart.

He looked up at the sky and laughed out loud. His laughter was both heroic and full of resentment towards his fate.

"Your Majesty! I am here to lend you a hand!"

He raised the spear in his hand with all his strength.

"Kill the Tang army! Kill!"

At his shouts, one Goguryeo soldier after another rushed towards the Tang army.

The cavalry charged forward, wearing worn but neat leather armor, holding sharp spears, their horses neighing as they rushed towards the Tang army.

The infantrymen followed closely behind, running wildly with determination in their eyes. Although the weapons in their hands were simple, their murderous intent was astonishing.

The common people followed at the end of the team. Many of them were only holding the hoes and sticks they used for daily work, but there was a stubbornness in their eyes. They used their flesh and blood to delay the Tang army as long as possible.

From the moment the gates of Pyongyang were opened, scouts rushed towards Li Chengqian at full speed.

"The Qianwu cannon is ready. Your Majesty, would you like to fire?"

The soldier knelt on one knee and spoke breathlessly.

Li Chengqian stood in front of the battle, quietly watching the Goguryeo army's fearless charge in the distance.

Originally, if Goguryeo chose to hold the city, relying on the indestructible power of the Qianwu cannon, Li Chengqian would not mind ordering a round of artillery fire to directly blow up the gate of Pyongyang, so that Goguryeo would be completely destroyed in the artillery fire and eliminate future troubles.

However, at this moment, when he witnessed with his own eyes that the Goguryeo people chose such a heroic way to die, such courage made his heart tremble.

After all, a mere small country can display such a brave and fearless spirit when facing the desperate situation of national destruction and extinction, let alone the mighty Tang Dynasty?

Since Goguryeo wants dignity, His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty will give them this opportunity.

The generals of the Tang Dynasty led 50,000 elite cavalrymen, quickly organized into neat charging formations, and prepared to fight against the Goguryeo army.

The reason why the Tang Dynasty sent out 50,000 cavalrymen this time was not because the Tang Dynasty only had these 50,000 cavalrymen available, but because there happened to be only 50,000 cavalrymen on standby in front of the formation.

Generals such as Qin Ruzhao, Xue Rengui, and Su Dingfang each led a cavalry team, like sharp swords drawn from their sheaths, charging towards the Goguryeo army.

Their faces were filled with confidence. In their eyes, the Goguryeo army was just a group of lambs to be slaughtered.

How could a mere 20,000 Goguryeo cavalrymen wearing leather armor compete with the 50,000 well-equipped Tang cavalrymen?

The two sides engaged in an extremely brutal battle on the vast battlefield in front of Pyongyang City.

In an instant, the sounds of horse hooves, shouts, and weapons clashing intertwined together, and blood and flesh flew everywhere.

After a round of fierce fighting, there were no more civilians left behind the Goguryeo army.

In this first round of charging, those unarmed civilians were either trampled to death by the cavalry or hacked by Tang swords. They fell one after another on the land where their ancestors had lived for generations, and their blood dyed the earth red.

After the second round of attack, more than half of the Goguryeo army had been killed. The battlefield was littered with broken limbs and arms, blood gathered into rivers, and the air was filled with a disgusting smell of blood. This was hell on earth.

In the third round of attack, all the Goguryeo infantrymen were wiped out. Their bodies lay scattered on the ground, becoming the ruthless victims of this war, with a lingering sense of unwillingness still lingering in their eyes.

After the fourth round of attack, only 8,000 cavalrymen were left in Goguryeo. Although their numbers were sharply reduced, they still stubbornly resisted wave after wave of attacks from the Tang army, defending Goguryeo's last dignity with their lives.

……

Just like that, after ten rounds of brutal fighting, the land in front of Pyongyang City was covered with densely packed corpses, stacked layer upon layer, and the original color of the land was almost invisible.

In the subsequent charge, these corpses were ruthlessly trampled and crushed by countless horse hooves. The blood and soil mixed together to form a sticky mud, emitting a suffocating smell of blood.

Yeon Gaesomun endured the severe pain from the multiple wounds on his body, stretched out his hand with difficulty, and supported Gao Zang who was also seriously injured beside him.

"Your Majesty, hold on! Be alert! Don't let Goguryeo lose its place."

His voice was a little weak, and at this final moment, he was determined to use his last bit of strength to maintain the dignity of Goguryeo.

Gao Zang was breathing heavily, with a fishy smell rising from his throat. He spat out a mouthful of blood foam with force, and there was a hint of confusion in his eyes.

"The same to you……"

At this time, there were only about two hundred cavalrymen left behind them.

These soldiers were all wounded and exhausted, their armor was torn to pieces and stained with blood, but their eyes showed a fearless attitude of facing death.

This was the last glitter of the Goguryeo national spirit.

Liu Shangzai, a civil servant who was usually weak and only knew how to write, was holding the sword in his hand trembling all over.

The sword seemed extremely heavy in his hand. There was not a trace of blood on it. He didn't even know how he had miraculously survived these brutal fights.

He only knew that he had to follow Yeon Gaesomun closely and never leave him. Even if he died, he would die beside Yeon Gaesomun and die a worthy death.

"Keep going, brothers, where are we going now?"

Yeon Gaesomun used up his last bit of strength, raised the blood-stained spear in his hand, and shouted at the front at the top of his lungs: "Kill!"

The more than 200 cavalrymen launched a final charge towards the Tang army camp.

Although from the perspective of bystanders, this final charge was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot and had no chance of winning, in their own hearts, it was their last struggle against fate and the last shining of the Goguryeo spirit. Their courage illuminated the entire battlefield at that moment.