The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 819 Willing to Go to Hell
The new capital of Goguryeo was Hanyang, which was located next to the Han River and had a population of over 100,000.

That morning, hundreds of Sui Dynasty warships appeared at the mouth of the Han River.

The familiar scene from Goguryeo unfolded once again: Sui warships sailed north along the Han River, destroying all Goguryeo vessels.

Goguryeo's national strength and resources were no longer sufficient to build large ships with a capacity of over 2,000 shi (a unit of volume), leaving only about 300 ships with a capacity of 500 to 1,000 shi. These ships were blocked in the harbor by the Sui army and burned to the ground.

Thick smoke filled the harbor, and flames soared into the sky. The soldiers on the shore were terrified and hid far away. No one dared to come forward to put out the fire. In half an hour, the raging fire engulfed all three hundred ships.

After the Sui army's warships departed, they searched along the coast for all Goguryeo ships and destroyed them without exception.

At this time, General Li Rusen led 10,000 Liaodong troops across the Datong River and headed south. The first target was Datong Fort, a military fort built by Goguryeo over three years on the only route the army had to take south.

In fact, there was another official road along the coast that could bypass it, but the Liaodong army's mission was to destroy all the military fortresses built by Goguryeo.

The military fortress was built halfway up the mountain, commanding a high vantage point. The fortress was six zhang high and housed three hundred soldiers. Although the army was small, the terrain was treacherous, giving it a formidable position that made it virtually impregnable.

However, Liaodong had already thoroughly understood this military fortress and knew how to deal with it.

Dozens of Goguryeo soldiers stood atop the military fort, holding bows and crossbows and carrying huge rocks, watching the Sui army at the foot of the mountain. There were cliffs on both sides, with only one path leading up in the middle. The cliffs were not very high, about two hundred paces.

Sui general Li Rusen waved his hand, "Arrow and Thunder Hands!"

Two hundred crossbowmen rushed over and crouched down on the other side of the cliff. Their crossbows were specially selected six-stone crossbows, which required two people to lie down and cock them. The range of the crossbows was 350 paces. They were all elite crossbowmen who had been trained for many years and could basically hit the target every time.

Li Rusen stared at Datong Fortress on the mountaintop. They had studied it repeatedly and unanimously agreed that only arrow mines could destroy the fortress. Although arrows could hit the fortress, they could not hurt people, but arrow mines were different.

The explosion of the arrow mine was enough to kill any soldier within a three-zhang radius. Although the shrapnel flew diagonally upwards, lying down could save one from certain death, but that only applied within the Sui Dynasty. Arrow mines within the Sui Dynasty did not contain poisoned nails.

However, when dealing with foreign tribes, there was little mercy. Each arrow was filled with hundreds of tiny poisoned nails, which scattered in all directions. Even if you were lying on the ground, you could not escape the poisoned nails unless you hid behind a table and used it as a shield. But that was only the case for a very small number of Goguryeo soldiers. Most soldiers were not so lucky.

Although the casserole was only two hundred paces away, the crossbowmen could adjust the angle and use a high-angle shot. One hundred crossbowmen adjusted their sights, aimed at the top of the military fort on the mountain, and kept retreating until they were in the right position. Coincidentally, the one hundred soldiers stood in two rows.

A companion lit the fuse, which hissed and crackled as it burned. Two red lines ran along the bottom; the upper line exploded mid-air, while the lower line exploded upon impact. When the lower line burned down, the companion whispered the command, "Release the arrows!"

"Click! Click! Click!" A series of crossbow clicks rang out, and a hundred arrows burning with blue smoke shot towards the top of the military fortress.

"Enemy arrows are coming!"

The soldiers on top shouted and crouched down. A grenade was accurately hurled into the top of the fortress, causing a series of explosions. All that could be heard were the sounds of explosions mixed with screams.

The explosions ended, and the screams ceased. Most of the forty-odd Goguryeo soldiers were killed in the explosions, and even those few who survived were riddled with poisoned nails and their lives were in grave danger.

"Prepare the firing window!"

The military fortress has three levels: upper, middle, and lower. The lower level is generally uninhabited, used for raising livestock and storing supplies. The second and third levels were once inhabited. Each of the second and third levels has three windows, each three feet square, which served as ventilation openings and firing ports.

Enemy soldiers stood in front of the six windows, and the crossbowmen's target changed to the six windows. The captain quickly made arrangements, with fifteen crossbowmen responsible for each window, and the division of labor was clear.

Two hundred soldiers lay down together, strung their feet together, took out arrows and placed them on their crossbows, and the captain shouted, "Aim!"

A hundred crossbowmen raised their crossbows simultaneously, aiming at their targets. The captain gave the order again: "Light the fuse! Explode in mid-air!"

The comrades lit the fuse with tinderboxes. The fuse hissed and burned until it reached the first red line. Then the comrades gave the order, "Fire!"

One hundred arrow-shaped mines were fired at their respective target windows. The soldiers at the windows scattered in terror. The mines exploded as they entered the windows, sending sparks flying and deafening explosions echoing through the air, accompanied by the screams of countless soldiers. Thick smoke billowed from the windows. As the smoke cleared, a second volley of mines was launched. The crossbowmen displayed superb archery skills, each arrow hitting its target, resulting in another series of explosions—this time, they landed and exploded deep within the fortress.

Li Rusen waved his hand, "Forwards, charge forward!"

General Liu Kun led three thousand soldiers up the hillside and stormed into the military fortress. Before long, the red flag with a yellow dragon of the Sui Dynasty was planted on the top of the fortress, and ten thousand troops rushed up.

None of the three hundred Goguryeo soldiers inside the fortress survived. The lightest wound was from being hit by more than a dozen poisoned nails. The poisoned nails could be treated by Sui army doctors, but they had to be treated before the poison attacked the heart. The poison was controlled with medicine, the nails were pulled out with tweezers, and then the soldiers had to take medicine for ten consecutive days to be cured.

But so far, no one has been cured, mainly because the treatment came too late and the poison gas had already reached their heart.

After successfully capturing Datong Fort, the 10,000 Sui troops continued south, sweeping through various military fortresses of Goguryeo and taking down more than 20 fortresses in one go.

At this time, apart from the capital Hanyang, there were no more Goguryeo troops within Goguryeo territory.

King Go Won of Yeongyang was old and had long lost the courage to fight a decisive battle. Even the ministers of Goguryeo, including Daesang Yeon Taejo, did not have the courage to fight the Sui army to the death. This Sui army was the same Jiangnan Sui army that had almost destroyed their country back then, only it was much stronger.

They no longer have even half of their former national strength. The weapons of their 50,000 soldiers are half iron and half copper, and even the iron ones are wrought iron and the copper ones are wrought copper.

The craftsmen who could forge high-quality weapons were all taken away by the Sui army in Jiangnan. Now, the blacksmiths in Goguryeo are all from the countryside. They can't even remove impurities properly, let alone understand the importance of charcoal in pig iron.

The master craftsmen of the Sui Dynasty's Imperial Arsenal could determine whether the carbon content was just right by observing the color and flow rate of molten iron, or they could turn wrought iron into refined steel through the frying process.

Goguryeo blacksmiths would only melt down old weapons and reforge them, resulting in insufficient carbon content. The copper and iron weapons were very soft and would break easily in battle. Goguryeo suffered a great loss in the war against Silla. If Baekje had not taken the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Silla, Goguryeo would have almost been destroyed by Silla.

Gao Yuan ultimately decided to negotiate surrender with the Sui army, and the envoy who came to the Sui army camp to negotiate was none other than Da Xiangyuan Taizuo.

Luo Shixin politely invited him to sit down, and Yuan Taizuo got straight to the point: "We have three conditions. If the general guarantees these three conditions, we are willing to surrender. Otherwise, we will all perish together."

"State your terms first!"

"First, the Sui army must not kill a single Goguryeo person, including nobles, ministers, and commoners; second, the national treasury can be handed over to the Sui Dynasty, but our private property must not be violated; third, we will not leave our homeland and are willing to be subjects of the Sui Dynasty in Goguryeo."

Luo Shixin slowly said, "I can agree to your first and second conditions, but all the nobles of Goguryeo must go to Luoyang or Chang'an to live. This is the Emperor's order. The nobles of Silla and Baekje have all gone to the Sui Dynasty and have been settled in various parts of the Sui Dynasty."

"Do we really have to go to Luoyang or Chang'an?" Yuan Taizu asked.

"There was no explicit requirement; the Emperor only requested that it be sent to the Sui Dynasty!"

Yuan Taizu reacted quickly and immediately said, "Pyongyang already belongs to the Great Sui. We can go to Pyongyang without violating the decree of the Great Sui Emperor. General Luo, can you agree to this?"

Luo Shixin sneered inwardly and nodded, "You can go to Pyongyang first, and then I will ask the Emperor for permission. If the Emperor agrees, you can stay in Pyongyang!"

Yuan Taizuo returned and reported that Gao Yuan agreed to go to Pyongyang, but made a request that the three demands be written down in order to prevent the Sui army from going back on their word.

In the afternoon, Yuan Taizuo returned, and Luo Shixin agreed to the written agreement demanded by the other party. The two sides then signed a surrender agreement, guaranteeing their safety in writing.

Luo Shixin signed the agreement in the name of the Grand Marshal of the Eastern Expedition of the Sui Dynasty.

Watching Yeon Tae-jo depart, Rasa sighed deeply. He finally understood the Emperor's parting words: 'You might leave behind the infamy of a butcher!'

Luo Shixin steeled his heart, thinking that if this land would forever belong to the Han dynasty, what did it matter if he went to hell?

(End of this chapter)