Datang: Rebirth of Li Chengqian, the beginning of the treason interrogation

Chapter 125 Turning defeat into victory
Trapped in a dense encirclement, with some cavalry deserting from the battlefield, the soldiers' morale was crushed and they had lost the belief that they could win.

The knights became extremely hesitant, looking back and forth, and turned their eyes to Li Daozon and Qibi Heli.

Li Daozon gritted his teeth, stared at the Goguryeo army flag not far away, and let out a long sigh towards the sky.

"Retreat! We need to break out before the Goguryeo army completely encircles us!"

He decisively turned his horse around and led everyone to charge towards the gap opened by Zhang Junyi.

Gao Yansheng shouted: "Shoot with arrows, all cavalry chase, and rob these Tang people!"

Dense arrows came like raindrops, and elite knights of the Tang army kept falling.

Li Daozon felt as if his heart was being cut by a knife, and the murderous intent in his eyes became stronger.

It's a failure.

Not only were they being hunted down now, but Goguryeo's horse archers were also shooting them without restraint.

They fled desperately, but could not escape the pursuit of the Goguryeo army.

Time passed, they ran tirelessly, but the enemy was still chasing them.

I don’t know how many miles I escaped.

Qibi Heli looked excited, rode forward and shouted loudly: "King Jiangxia, there is a turning point! Goguryeo's infantry is fighting for the spoils in the rear and has lost touch with their cavalry!"

Upon hearing this, Li Daozon's eyes lit up and he immediately pulled the reins to stop the horse under him.

The situation on the battlefield was changing rapidly and opportunities were fleeting. However, Li Daozong still keenly captured this rare opportunity. He knew that any hesitation at this moment might miss the opportunity. So he gave the order without hesitation.

"All troops, listen up! General Li Ji has arrived with his army. We must turn our horses around immediately and follow me to kill the enemy and gain merit!"

Li Daozon raised the spear in his hand and shouted loudly.

He is good at boosting the morale of the soldiers.

The flag bearer on one side immediately waved the flag.

Seeing the flag change, the Tang army soldiers responded one after another, quickly adjusted their formation, and prepared to follow Li Daozon to turn around and fight again.

Qibi Heli held a spear and Li Daozon held a bow and arrow. The two generals rushed towards the enemy camp first and bravely took the lead.

Wherever they passed, the Goguryeo cavalry was unable to resist. The enemies nearby were lifted up by Qibi Heli's spear and fell off their horses; those far away were hit by Li Daozon's accurate arrows, and every arrow hit its target.

In this battle, although the Goguryeo cavalry was strong, they were far behind the Tang army in terms of equipment and weapons. The Tang soldiers were well-dressed in armor and armed with sharp weapons, and their combat effectiveness was very strong.

Their armor was just animal skins, not armor made of fine iron, and they were immediately defeated after the battle.

The Goguryeo army was in disarray and scattered in all directions, trying to snatch the armor and weapons of the Tang army. They had no formation at all.

Seeing this, Li Daozon was overjoyed and took advantage of the situation to kill him.

Gao Yansheng never expected that the Tang army would launch a counterattack.

Therefore, there was not much management on the soldiers cleaning the battlefield.

Chasing and killing are the cavalry's job, as the infantry cannot keep up. Recovering the spoils is a matter of course and is also the case.

As a result, the central gate was now wide open, and the general's tent was exposed to the Tang army's cavalry.

"Flag bearer, send an order immediately, all troops to return for reinforcement."

Gao Yansheng was horrified. This time, he was no longer as calm as before.

Then the Goryeo army started beating drums and waving flags.

The Goguryeo troops scattered all around became even more confused, because at this time, the generals could not find their soldiers, and the soldiers could not find their generals.

They couldn't even organize a defensive formation, and it became even more chaotic.

This is the consequence of having no military discipline. At the critical moment, the army is completely uncontrollable.

"General, hurry up, the Tang army is coming." The personal soldiers saw Gao Yansheng being carried away.

At this moment, the Tang cavalry did not encounter any resistance and charged indiscriminately, killing the Goryeo soldiers who were like headless flies.

Li Daozon drew his sword and slashed it across, causing the Goguryeo general's flag to fall to the ground.

A team that wanted to come to the rescue also fled in all directions at this time.

Without orders, they didn't know what to do.

"kill!"

At this moment, the earth shook and a large army rushed towards here with murderous intent.

"The army has arrived, soldiers, don't give away the achievements you have made."

Li Daozon continued to lead his troops to charge. The Goguryeo army formation was not chaotic enough, and he wanted to make it even more chaotic.

"Take no prisoners, leave no one behind!"

Li Ji raised his spear high, and when he saw that the Goguryeo army had no fighting power left, he spoke coldly.

They were marching at a forced pace, and taking prisoners would only affect their speed of advance and strategic deployment.

Tens of thousands of troops rushed forward, but this was not the final break that broke the camel's back, but the sky falling.

It was a one-sided massacre, especially the cavalry led by Li Daozon, each of them seemed to have walked out of a pool of blood.

The setting sun is as red as blood, adding a sense of sadness to the land.

Li Daozon and Qibi Heli smiled at each other, and Li Daozon shook his horse and jumped off.

"I'm old. I'm so tired after fighting for so long."

He wiped the blood off the sword, revealing the blade full of gaps, and a bitter smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. "The sword is no longer useful. It has become dull after killing a few barbarians."

"King Jiangxia, you are still as brave and heroic as ever. You captured Jie Li Khan alive, and now you have captured the flag in the midst of thousands of troops. Who can compare to you?"

Qibi Heli smiled and said that he sincerely admired Li Daozon's bravery.

"No, the future of the Tang Dynasty depends on you young people. I have to say that the Goguryeo army is more difficult to deal with than other soldiers I have encountered. They are very fierce."

Li Daozon looked into the distance and saw that the fighting was still going on. Even though the entire army was defeated, when he saw the Tang army rushing forward, he still bravely took up his weapons and fought.

The defeat in this battle was not due to the lack of bravery of the Goguryeo soldiers, but to the incompetence of one general.

"The Tang army is invincible. King Jiangxia, you are worrying too much." Qibi Heli replied.

After fighting for a day and a night, more than 20,000 Goguryeo soldiers were killed in battle, and more than 3,000 Tang soldiers were killed, including more than 1,000 elite cavalry.

"Bring up Zhang Junyi!"

There was a solemn and murderous atmosphere in the tent.

Li Daozong's eyes widened in anger: "Zhang Junyi fled from the battlefield, causing our army to fall into danger. He should be executed."

If it weren't for Zhang Junyi's cowardice, the Tang army's losses would certainly not have been so heavy, especially the cavalry, which lost nearly half.

"General Manager, Deputy General Manager, I know my crime. Please forgive me this time, considering that I have made no contributions but have worked hard."

Zhang Junyi begged for mercy.

The whole army was credited with the merits, but he alone was guilty.

"If I spare you, where will the military law stand? How can those soldiers who died in the battle rest in peace?"

"Come here, drag him out of the camp and behead him to restore military discipline!"

Li Ji waved his hand and said that such a general who disobeyed military orders must not be allowed to stay in the Tang army.

Zhang Junyi was dragged out like a dead dog and beheaded as a warning to others.

The Tang army won a comprehensive victory on the Liaodong battlefield and annihilated tens of thousands of enemies.

This time, more than 10,000 sheep and more than 100,000 dan of grain and fodder were seized, solving the urgent needs of Li Ji's army in the Eastern Expedition.

After three days of rest, Li Ji and Li Daozon led the troops to withdraw, but when they returned, Gaimu City had already been captured.

"Haha, I told you that Wan Che has a brilliant plan. Even our tens of thousands of troops couldn't capture Gaimu City, but Wan Che only took 10,000 of them."

After Li Ji entered Gaimu City, he praised Xue Wanche loudly.

For the first time in history, Xue Wanche lowered his head and said discouragedly, "I have failed to live up to General Manager Li's high expectations. I failed to grab the food and lost soldiers and generals. I dare not claim credit for it."

In all three battles, the few were used to defeat the many.

Li Daozon defeated 40,000 troops with only 4,000 men and seized the flag among thousands of troops.

Zhang Shigui was in a high position and his soldiers were brave. They killed the generals and captured the flags, and defeated the enemy at a very small cost.

However, when he attacked and captured the city of Gaimu, more than half of his soldiers were killed or wounded, and the spoils were pitifully small.

"It is also a credit. This steward will report your contributions to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Ji clasped his fists and faced south.

"General Manager Li, I have a young general under my command named Xue Li. During the attack and defense of Xincheng, he was the first to climb the city wall, and he was awarded the first to climb the city wall. In the battle of Gaoer Mountain, he single-handedly charged into the enemy army, killed the general and captured the flag, and he was awarded three major military merits."

"I think Xue Li has the qualities of a great general. Can I make an exception and promote him?"

Zhang Shigui then said that he was recommending credit for Xue Rengui.

Every time a city is captured, there are those who are the first to reach it, and every time a victory is won, there are those who capture the flag. Although these are all remarkable achievements, the improvement is not very big. It is already very good to be promoted to the next level.

The current military positions of Zhang Shigui, Xue Wanche and Gao Kan are the result of their lifetime achievements.

When you were still a young general, who had not made military achievements such as capturing flags and killing generals?
"This person must be very capable to be praised by you, Shigui. I would like to meet him."

Li Ji nodded with some hope in his eyes.

But I didn't take it too seriously.

"Okay, he is in the army. I will go find him right away."

Zhang Shigui immediately withdrew.

"Butler Li, the Crown Prince has sent a letter! He also brought a bunch of strange iron lumps with him."

Xue Wanche pulled out a letter from his sleeve. The man did not say it was an urgent military letter, so Xue Wanche took him down.

Li Ji opened the letter immediately, and the smile on his face became more intense.

Everyone was also curious about what Prince Li Chengqian mentioned in the letter?
The first letter he received had already formulated a strategy of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west. These generals did not dare to ignore the contents of the letter.

"Baekje has been destroyed, Silla has become a vassal state, the southern army has already reached the border of Goguryeo, aiming at Pyongyang, and Liu Rengui has already captured Beisha City and is besieging Jian'an City. The waterway is open and the food and grass channels are intact."

Li Ji handed the letter to Li Daozon.

"How is this possible? Where did His Royal Highness get so many troops? How did he do it?"

Gao Kan asked, the navy is the rear army, transporting food and grass from the Jiangnan area to the Liaodong battlefield.

This is not only attacking the city of Beisha, but also conquering Baekje. It is too unbelievable.

"Is the messenger still here? Call him over and ask him what's going on."

Li Daozon looked at the battle results in the letter and still didn't believe it.

(End of this chapter)