Chapter 1267 Night Attack on Yuyang

The city gate was wide open. Gao Yuanbao, disheveled and dressed in white, came out with his wife, concubines and several grandchildren to surrender. He was also followed by the Quan family, the Lu family and the Pei family. These were the four major families of Pingzhou Goguryeo and belonged to the ruling family. Of course, there are some small and medium-sized families, but they have little influence. It is mainly these four families that rule the Goguryeo people in Pingzhou.

"The guilty minister Gao Yuanbao and his betrayal of Heaven's grace deserve death."

Gao Yuanbao's voice trembled. He had already guessed the fate of his two sons, which made him feel like a knife.

At this time, the general who came forward turned into Guo Ziyi. He said calmly: "On the shore of the country, could it be the royal ministers? There is no Goguryeo in the world, only the people of the Tang Dynasty. It is indeed a serious crime for you to train the army without authorization and fight against the imperial court. I have no power." As a punishment, I have to send you to Chang'an to be punished by the imperial court. "

He waved his hand and said: "Take them down!"

Hundreds of soldiers came forward, put more than a hundred people from the four major families into carriages prepared in advance, and escorted them away. From then on, no one knew about them anymore. They may have died or been exiled. to the far western regions.

The army entered the city and asked all Goguryeo people to pack up their things and assemble outside the city. They would be sent to Youzhou.

Suddenly the city was filled with cries. Some people were crying because their sons and husbands had died in the war, and even more people were crying because they were driven out of their homes.

Guo Ziyi's heart is as hard as iron and he has no mercy at all. He also knows that the problem of the Goguryeo people must be solved once and for all, otherwise disaster will happen sooner or later.

Groups of people supported the old and the young, holding large and small bags in their hands, and were driven out of Pinglu City. Basically all the Pingzhou Goguryeo people lived in Pinglu City. This was done by their ruling class to facilitate management. He took measures to drive away all the Han people in the city and move all the scattered Goguryeo people into the city.

In the end, it facilitated the liquidation of the Tang army. There were more than 180,000 people in total, less than 200,000, about 40,000 families, with an average of one soldier for every two families, forming an army of 20,000 people.

Now all 20,000 soldiers have been killed, leaving only more than 10,000 young and strong men. The others are almost all old, weak, women and children.

The procession moved slowly, with thousands of carts in which old people and children sat. They left their homes in despair.

Just a few days after the Goguryeo people were cleared out of the city, Han people living in various places in Pingzhou rushed into Pinglu County to seize houses and search for property. Soon, they became the new owners of Pinglu County.

This is the historical cycle of every city, wave after wave, the old ones are cleared out, and new ones come again. This is the so-called iron camp and flowing soldiers.

Don't expect that the city you live in will have traces of several generations of ancestors. In fact, it is only a few generations, and it may be a little longer now. During the war, human life is like a leek, with one crop growing after another.

Two hundred thousand Goguryeo people lined up in a long queue and were escorted to the Youzhou refugee camp.

But they were lucky. They met the kind-hearted Guo Ziyi. While adhering to his principles, Guo Ziyi also tried his best not to abuse these people, letting the elderly and children sit on the cart, and other young and middle-aged people. While walking, Tang troops distributed food along the way.

The team rested for a night, and early the next morning, 200,000 people continued to stumble westward. At this time, only 20,000 troops led by Li Sheng were left among the Tang army that escorted them.

Guo Ziyi led 30,000 cavalry to the north of Yuyang.

Two days later, two armies of 30,000 men met south of Yuyang County, which meant that the final battle of annihilation was about to begin.

There is a model of Yuyang County on the table in the big tent. This was brought by Lai Yi and given to him by Li Ye who sent someone from Youzhou.

Guo Ziyi carefully looked at the county model. Yuyang County is at most a middle county and can accommodate only tens of thousands of people. Now it has squeezed in 30,000 troops, plus a small number of Goguryeo people living in Jizhou.

There shouldn't be too many Han people in the city.

"Do you have any specific information?" Guo Ziyi asked.

"have!"

Lai Yi handed a piece of information to Guo Ziyi, "This is what an official in the city named Fu Yuangui found a way to bring out to us."

Guo Ziyi took the information and looked at it. There were less than a thousand Han people in the city, only a few hundred. They were basically the family members and servants of officials. There were no ordinary people left.

"Is this Fu Yuangui still in the city?" Guo Ziyi asked.

Lai Yi smiled in surprise: "He should be in Pinglu County! He followed his boss Wang Zuyou to Pinglu County for negotiations. Didn't the old general meet him?"

Guo Ziyi shook his head, "After Pinglu County surrendered, we did not encounter Zhu Si's officials. They should have left Pingzhou and returned."

"No!"

Lai Yi was very sure: "In fact, all the official roads leading to Yuyang County have been blocked by the scouts of the Beizong faction. If they come back, they will definitely be discovered by the Beizong faction, and Fu Yuangui should not come back again. It is possible that they have gone Youzhou.”

Guo Ziyi said slowly: "Don't worry about him, we will attack Yuyang County tonight!"

The battle plan for Yuyang County has long been formulated. This plan is called Burning the City with Fierce Fire. As you can tell from the name, it means burning Yuyang City with fire, forcing the enemy troops in the city to come out, and then using the cavalry to destroy them.

Although this plan will harm the people in the city, there is no other way. This is war. War is the most cruel social elimination. Only the strong can survive.

What's more, Zhu Si's idea of ​​expelling the people and replacing troops drove away most of the people and did the Tang army a big favor.

At two o'clock, 60,000 Tang troops surrounded Yuyang County from all directions. The cavalry was responsible for blocking the city gates. Yuyang County only had two city gates, north and south, which had been completely blocked by the cavalry.

30,000 infantry approached the city wall, about 200 steps away from the city wall, raised their crossbows together, and aimed gunpowder arrows at the city.

At this time, Zhu Ci, who was sleeping soundly, was awakened by the fierce knocking on the door.

"What's the matter?" Zhu Ci asked angrily.

"My lord, tens of thousands of Tang troops outside are about to start attacking the city!"

This sentence was like a basin of cold water poured on his face. Zhu Ci sat up and asked in horror: "Does General Li Chenglie know?"

"He knows, he has already deployed defenses!"

Li Chenglie was Zhu Ci's deputy general, a Xi general, who was once a general under Shi Siming and had rich practical experience.

Zhu Ci breathed a sigh of relief and said to the concubines sleeping beside him: "Hurry up and put on my armor. I want to go to the city!"

The women hurriedly put on Zhu Ci's clothes and followed the rules. Zhu Ci went out of the house and got on his horse.

At this moment, a string of bright red light flew up in the sky. Zhu Ci was stunned for a moment. What was this?

Then, firelight appeared in the air from all directions and flew towards the city. Groups of raging fire rushed into the city, and the city was set on fire everywhere.

Zhu Ci was shocked and shouted: "Ring the alarm bell quickly, everyone get up!"

"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"

The alarm bells in Yuyang County rang loudly. At the same time, the second round of gunpowder arrows flew into the city. There were already 60,000 gunpowder arrows in the city, and fires were set on fire everywhere in the city.

At this time, sixty large catapults rumbled forward, and their target was the defenders on the top of the city.

When the whole city was ablaze, the only place to escape was on the city wall.

Thirty thousand Tang soldiers fired gunpowder arrows into the city in an orderly manner. Although the soldiers on the top of the city also shot arrows at the Tang army in retaliation, it was basically ineffective.

The Tang army was scattered, and it was night and far away. At 250 steps away, even if the arrows could hit, they would be the last of the strong crossbows and could not penetrate the armor and helmets of the Tang soldiers.

Sixty large catapults also began to fire, and pottery jars filled with kerosene were thrown to the top of the city one by one. In an instant, fires broke out everywhere on the top of the city, and even the kerosene jars stored on the top of the city by the defenders were ignited.

In fact, the raging fire was not the most terrible, the thick smoke was the most deadly threat. An hour later, the entire Yuyang County was shrouded in billowing smoke.

The South Gate suddenly opened, and a large number of Khitan soldiers stumbled out, covering their mouths and noses. There were more than 4,000 people. They would not suffocate to death in the city, nor would they obey orders.

Four thousand Khitan soldiers began to break out for survival. They ran desperately, and the rest broke through the blockade of the Tang army.

But what greeted them was the ruthless killing of the Tang cavalry.

The reason is very simple. The last 10,000 troops following Zhu Ci were all Hu people, and then there were 10,000 Goguryeo troops, which were Goguryeo troops in Jizhou. The main general was Wang Siyi, the former commander of the Plum Blossom Guard who fled back to Jizhou from Luoyang, and the brother of the general Wang Sili.

Finally, there were 10,000 Khitan troops, which were the vanguards of the Khitans who tried to get involved in Youzhou. They joined Zhu Ci's army, which also reflected the Khitan's support for Zhu Ci.

These 30,000 people were troops that the Tang army would not accept surrender, and they would definitely kill them all.

Xi Wanli shouted: "Order the whole army, do not accept surrender, and kill them all!"