Chapter 300: Defeat at Liaohe River, Fierce Battle

Uiju Fortress was an important border town of the Goguryeo Dynasty.

Cui Dongyuan, the general of the Goguryeo Western Expedition who was defeated in Uiju City with more than 60,000 remnant troops, did not feel relieved until he ordered the defenders of Uiju City to destroy the bridge on the Yalu River. Fall back into your stomach.

The army of the Tang Dynasty was much stronger than that of the New Dynasty.

It doesn’t matter if they have strong combat effectiveness, but the key is that they also have big (small) cannons in red to help them out. In this first battle with the Tang Dynasty, we lost because we were careless and underestimated the enemy!

Cui Dongyuan returned to Yiju City and locked himself in the garrison in the city without even eating. He has been reviewing and reflecting on the tragic defeat of Liaohe.

This study room of the Uiju Castle Guards House can be said to be the starting point for Cui Dongyuan's rise to prominence in the Goguryeo Dynasty.

At the beginning, Cui Dongyuan, who was just a garrison in Yizhou, keenly sensed the God-given opportunity of the civil unrest in the Great New Dynasty. It was in the study room of the garrison that he made the decision "if the general is outside, military orders will be ignored." He made the decision to lead his troops directly to Liaodong, and finally included the four counties of Liaodong into the territory of the Goguryeo Dynasty from the hands of the Daxin Dynasty.

It was because of his military exploits that Cui Dongyuan, who was only a third-grade military general, became the Western Expedition General of the Goguryeo Dynasty. He commanded a hundred thousand troops to garrison the Liaohe River and was ready to continue marching westward to take over the rich northeastern region of the Central Plains Dynasty. In the bag.

Therefore, Cui Dongyuan, who suffered a huge defeat on the Liaohe front line this time, locked himself in what he considered a "blessed land" as soon as he returned to Yiju, hoping that he could use the luck of the blessed land to regroup. To avenge the shame.

In the study, Cui Dongyuan has been summarizing.

In his opinion, the main reason for the disastrous defeat in Liaohe was that the Tang army had large and small cannons in red to help frighten the Goguryeo cavalry and horses under his command, thereby disrupting his overall strategic deployment.

At the same time, Cui Dongyuan also discovered the shortcomings of the Tang Army's red-coated cannons:

First, although the red cannon has a long range and is powerful, its gun body is heavy and has poor maneuverability. If the battle between the two sides is chosen in a hilly or barrier area, the power of the Tang army's red cannon will be greatly reduced.

Secondly, although the Tang Army’s red cannon (three-eyed gun) was easy to carry, it was troublesome to load and had a limited range. If the horses of the Goguryeo cavalry could be trained specifically;

For example, daily fireworks and firecrackers were used to simulate the explosions of the Tang Army's red cannons, so that the war horses could become familiar with the explosions to ensure that they could remain calm under the attack of the red cannons and cooperate with the riders to perform regular horseback stabbing movements;

In this way, the powerful cavalry troops of the Goguryeo Dynasty might not be able to fight against the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty!

When he thought of this, Cui Dongyuan suddenly understood - it turned out that it was not that the general and the Goguryeo warriors under his command were not brave enough. It was actually the appearance of the red-coated cannons of the Tang army that interrupted the general's deployment.

After thinking about it, Cui Dongyuan returned to the state of unswervingly advocating Goguryeo's western expedition to the Tang Dynasty. He pushed open the door of the study room of the garrison mansion and said sternly: "Here comes -"

"The general is here!"

The messenger who was waiting at the door immediately took the order.

Cui Dongyuan ordered: "This is the general's order to immediately send people to collect all the fireworks and firecrackers near Yizhou into the army. If there are not enough in Yizhou, send people to nearby counties to buy them;"

"From tomorrow onwards, except for the soldiers on duty on the city wall, all other soldiers will go to the school field to participate in drills. Fireworks and firecrackers will be used to simulate the explosions of the red-coated cannons of the Tang Army to train the tolerance and obedience of the war horses;"

"Go!"

"The general will get the order!"

After giving orders to the messengers, Cui Dongyuan returned to the study, came to the desk and wrote furiously, writing a memorial to the Goguryeo Treasure King;

On the one hand, he was responsible for the disastrous defeat of Liaohe and the loss of the four counties of Liaodong;

On the other hand, Cui Dongyuan also reported his next strategy to face the enemy and the determination of the soldiers on the Uiju front line to the King of Treasures, and requested that his strategy to face the enemy be implemented in the entire Goguryeo army.

After drafting the memorial, Cui Dongyuan dispatched a 800-mile rush overnight and went straight to the capital, Pyongyang.

The next day.

The capital of Goguryeo, Pyongyang Palace.

Treasure King Gao Zang was at the court meeting that day when he received an urgent military report from the Yiju front line.

When the news of the disastrous defeat in Liaohe and the loss of the four Liaodong counties spread back to Goguryeo, it immediately caused an uproar in the court.

Lord Gai Shiwen, who represented the interests of the nobles in Goguryeo, even criticized the main war faction in the court in the court, targeting the military department of the Goguryeo Dynasty.

snort!

Ge Shiwen snorted coldly and reprimanded sternly: "Your Majesty, my veteran has long said that Chen Huaian, Emperor Zhaowu of the Tang Dynasty, is different from Zhao Qian, Emperor Jian'an of the previous Great New Dynasty;"

"This Emperor Zhaowu, Chen Huai'an, settled in the fiefdom of Longcheng, raised an army with 8,000 soldiers, and overturned the huge New Dynasty in more than two years and established the Tang Dynasty. How can he be an ordinary person?"

Ge Shiwen continued angrily: "The Dragon City army under Chen Huaian swept through the Turks and Tubos and quelled the chaos in the Western Regions. How can its combat effectiveness be compared to that of the old Liaodong troops of the Great New Dynasty?"

"Look at the disastrous defeat in Liaohe. Our Goguryeo Dynasty had a hundred thousand troops stationed in the four counties of Liaodong. In just one day, all four counties were lost, and more than 30,000 soldiers were killed in a vain battle;"

"This, all of this could have been avoided!"

Ge Shiwen looked at the Treasure King sitting in the main hall and said emotionally: "Don't Chen Huaian and the Tang Dynasty just want me, Goguryeo, to bow down and surrender?"

"He is the orthodox dynasty in the Central Plains, doesn't he just want to make Goguryeo a vassal state?"

"Just agree to him, how much is face worth, my king?"

"Lord Gai——"

Finally, Ma Xidong, the general of the Ministry of War in the Goguryeo court, couldn't stand it anymore, and stood up to confront Gai Shiwen, saying: "It is true that General Cui was defeated in Liaohe, but it is not as bad as you said, Lord Gai!"

"Besides, is the Tang army really that powerful?"

"I don't think so——"

Ma Xidong changed the subject and said: "Didn't General Cui's memorial on the front line elaborate on the reason why my Goguryeo army was defeated in Liaohe? The red cannons and small cannons equipped by the Tang army frightened our horses and the unprepared frontline soldiers, thus disrupting the strategic deployment;"

"General Cui has also proposed a countermeasure against the Tang army equipped with red cannons in the memorial. Why can't we give him some time and a chance?"

"My Goguryeo Dynasty has 600,000 soldiers at this time. Even if 30,000 died on the Liaohe front, there are still 570,000;"

Ma Xidong continued his speech passionately: "With 570,000 soldiers defending, with the right time, place and people, you can surrender to the mere 200,000 Tang army without a fight? "

Humph!

"I dare not guarantee anything else, but if this king's order is issued to the frontline generals, it will inevitably cause public anger;"

"By then, if a mutiny is provoked, can you, Lord Gai, bear the responsibility?"

"You——"