On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 339 Entering the city as an envoy

Cui Che really cherishes feathers. Even if he can spare no effort and considerately review manuscripts for historians in the future, he will only deceive future generations.

If you want to have a good reputation in this world, you still have to be hypocritical like this.

They had clearly made up their minds to attack Liaodong City to intensify the conflict between the grassland tribes and Goguryeo, and they had to send people to the city to shout, don't say anything unpredicted, to intimidate them into surrendering.

As for whether the defenders in the city would desperately resist because of this, Cui Che didn't care much. Anyway, the coalition's infantry were the main attackers.

The Goguryeo people drove away the clamoring coalition cavalry and expressed their attitude to Cui Che clearly.

Cui Che was not surprised. He had to shout a few times to convince the Liaodong City defenders to surrender, and Gao Jiong would not have been defeated so miserably.

After showing off his power under the city, Cui Che led his army back to camp and temporarily built siege equipment.

Cui Che was not inadequately prepared for this battle, but it was difficult for him to march long distances outside the Great Wall with siege equipment.

The Sui army was not in a hurry to attack the city, and the Goguryeo people were not idle either. The sentries from both sides fought fiercely, with each other winning or losing. However, from the prisoners, Cui Che also learned that Eulji Mundeok led 40,000 soldiers.

The cavalry and soldiers responded outside the city.

Now I don't know where to hide, just waiting to give myself a fatal blow.

Three days passed in a blink of an eye. The coalition forces built a large number of siege equipment, and the Goguryeo army, at the suggestion of the northern leader Gaopuluo, diverted Liao water into the ditch outside the city to serve as a moat.

At this point, filling in the moat has become a problem that the coalition forces need to face. Fortunately, this kind of artificially dug trench is not spacious. It only took a day for the servant army to fill in the so-called moat, braving arrows.

In the second year of Renshou (AD 602), on March 26, Cui Che issued an order to the entire army and promised to break the city without sealing the sword for three days. He also emphasized again that the ethnic group who was the first to break through the city gate could have half of the city to themselves.

After collecting the spoils, the second offensive and defensive battle of Liaodong City officially began.

Cui Che chose to surround three palaces, leaving the east gate alone as the gap.

They also sent cavalry to hold down the infantry to prevent Eulji Mundeok, who was hiding outside the city, from launching an attack from the rear while the coalition forces were attacking the city.

Outside Liaodong City, the sound of killing was so loud that even if the coalition forces launched a strong attack from three sides at the same time, the defenders with sufficient strength could still deal with it calmly.

At dusk, another wave of servant army attacks were repulsed. Cui Che, who was leading the cavalry in the rear, ordered his men to ring the gong and ring the gold to withdraw the troops.

The soldiers who attacked the city supported the wounded soldiers and retreated, leaving only more than a thousand corpses.

However, the soldiers all retreated, but Cui Che was unwilling to return to the camp immediately. He called Mai Mengcai, pointed to the remains outside the city, and said:

"They all died for me. I can't let them lie in the wilderness anymore. Can you go down to the city for me and get their bodies back?"

The soldiers present were all moved when they heard what he said.

Mai Mengcai agreed. He took off his armor, dropped his weapons, and galloped towards Liaodong City.

The defenders at the top of the city had already heaved a sigh of relief when they saw the allied forces retreating. Now that they saw Mai Mengcai coming again, many of them had already drawn their bows to their full capacity. Just waiting for him to get closer, they would kill Mai Mengcai.

Killed by an arrow.

"No arrows are allowed without my order!"

Gao Jianwu shouted.

When he saw Mai Mengcai wearing only a single coat, he knew that Cui Che must have something to say to him when he came.

If possible, Gao Jianwu still hopes to turn conflicts with Cui Che into friendship.

A hanging basket was lowered from the city wall. Mai Mengcai did not hesitate. He got off his horse, sat on the hanging basket, and was pulled up to the city wall.

As a result, Mai Mengcai became the first member of the coalition forces to board the Liaodong city. Of course, this was only as an envoy and could not count.

"Your envoy is here, but is he under the orders of Duke Yan?"

Gao Jianwu asked.

His fluent Chinese surprised Mai Mengcai, but the reason why Mai Mengcai was loved by Cui Che was not entirely because of his father Mai Tiezhang.

Mai Mengcai guessed that the young man opposite should be the general of the garrison. However, he did not carry any weapons on this mission, and the man was very careful and huddled among the heavy guards.

"Exactly, I have come to meet you on the order of Duke Yan. I dare to ask the name of this general."

After saying that, Mai Mengcai asked.

Gao Jianwu did not hide anything, he replied:

"I am the king's younger brother, Gao Jianwu."

Mai Mengcai continued:

"Gong Yan ordered me to come and discuss with General Gao and bring back the bodies of the fallen soldiers."

When Gao Jianwu heard this, he couldn't help but show a hint of disappointment.

Before he could answer, Northern Master Guan Nu Jiacheng said angrily:

"Why do you have to give it as you say? Those who died below the city were the beasts who followed Cui Che and wreaked havoc in Houcheng. They deserve to die without a burial place!"

Houcheng was Guan Nu Jiacheng's sphere of influence, and the guard was also his confidant. After hearing the bad news, Guan Nu Jiacheng had been holding back a wave of anger for a long time.

Mai Mengcai did not panic when faced with Guan Nu Jiacheng's sudden rage, his expression showed calmness.

Gao Jianwu frowned. He felt that as an important member of the royal family, he should be respected. But before he opened his mouth, Guan Nu Jiacheng was yelling. Wasn't this a joke for the Sui envoy?

However, even as the king's younger brother, facing a powerful figure like Mr. West, even if he is dissatisfied, he cannot break out easily.

Only to hear Mai Mengcai retort:

"Summer is about to begin, and corpses are piling up outside the city. There must be a major epidemic. You will eventually have to leave the city to deal with it. What if our army takes advantage of you to open the city to transport the corpses and attack the city gate.

"It's better to allow us to take the body back without bothering you."

Jiacheng was at a loss for words for a moment.

He also knew that what Mai Mengcai said was reasonable. Gao Jianwu also panicked when he heard about the epidemic.

The epidemic has always been fair, and it will not be lenient to you just because of your noble status.

In the end, the two sides agreed that every day after the war, the coalition forces would send 500 people, empty-handed and not allowed to wear armor, to carry away the coalition corpses under the city.

Mai Mengcai breathed a sigh of relief. When the bamboo basket he was sitting on was put down, he couldn't help but feel scared.

He had also seen the archers on the city wall aiming at him before, but in order to marry the Cui family daughter, in order not to embarrass his father, and in order not to disappoint Cui Che, he could not retreat and could only bite the bullet and approach Liaodong City.

Back in the formation, the soldiers looked at Mai Mengcai with a bit of respect.

After hearing Mai Mengcai's report, Cui Che immediately named 500 soldiers and asked them to disarm and go to Liaodong City to carry them.

The first day's siege battle has ended. Cui Che has no plans to fight at night for the time being. Returning to the camp, he summoned all the generals in the commander's tent. The first sentence he spoke was to Mai Mengcai:

"Tell me about what you saw when you entered Liaodong City."

I'm going home tonight, there will be more later

(End of chapter)