Harassment—endless harassment. The Goguryeo people continuously launched attacks on Yun Ye from the mountains, the water, the grass, underground—although in the eyes of Great Tang soldiers this kind of low-intensity harassment really wasn’t much, having a mosquito buzzing by your ear for too long would also make one irritable and vexed.
The soldiers going to the forest to cut trees were continuously getting injured, mostly wounded in the legs. That place was full of traps. The Goguryeo people estimated that Yun Ye would need a lot of timber and also thought that only this pine forest could supply Yun Ye with large quantities of wood. They were somewhat arrogant, or perhaps couldn’t bear to burn this forest completely, so they made such arrangements.
Yun Ye had no such concerns. Once enough timber was collected, he set the forest ablaze with a single fire. Strong crossbows guarded outside. Those Goguryeo people hiding in the forest making sneak attacks were driven out by the great fire, then one by one, like prey, were shot dead by the strong crossbows.
They say anger should not raise troops, but the Goguryeo people didn’t seem to think so. A person holding a banner with the character “Gao” led two thousand Goguryeo people to bravely charge into Great Tang’s camp at dawn, only to discover upon entering the camp that this was an empty camp. When they wanted to retreat, Liu Fang gave them no chance. This old trick of midnight camp raids really wasn’t enough to challenge Old Liu.
When the corpses of over two thousand people were piled in front of the royal capital, a long horn blast came from inside the city. A large cavalry force stood outside the city gate. Many Goguryeo people emerged from the wilderness and entered the royal capital in an orderly fashion. It seemed they didn’t plan to harass anymore.
An envoy with an attendant came before the camp and delivered to Yun Ye a letter from Goguryeo’s Great Elder Brother Quan Yeonji, requesting that Yun Ye permit them to take away the bones of those two thousand Goguryeo people and permit Yun Ye to take two thousand corpses from the jingguan in return. Liu Fang agreed without hesitation but required the Goguryeo people to dig out the bones from the jingguan themselves for the exchange.
“What does this three-legged chicken mean?” Yun Ye flipped through the letter, asking the Goguryeo person. Before the Goguryeo person could answer, the attendant he brought along haughtily replied, “That is the three-legged golden crow, our god. Are Tang people so ignorant that they only know chickens and don’t know of the golden crow’s existence?”
The humiliated and enraged Yun Ye ordered the attendant’s head chopped off, which was then served up on a plate. That envoy, eyes full of tears, wanted to retrieve his attendant’s remains, but Yun Ye sternly refused—unless they brought another five hundred corpses to exchange, otherwise he would feed this brave Goguryeo attendant to the dogs.
The furiously roaring envoy agreed to this demand. Later, discovering Yun Ye was curiously looking at his neck, he fled back to the royal capital in a flash, preparing to report to Great Elder Brother Quan Yeonji his attendant’s steadfast integrity. Such a hero was very rare among the Goguryeo people—a hero who dared to rebuke the enemy commander’s ignorance before the enemy’s thousands of troops needed to be known by all Goguryeo people.
Seeing the envoy leave, Yun Ye quickly returned to his tent, only to see that Goguryeo attendant eating under Liu Jinbao’s service, gnawing at roast chicken in an unseemly manner. Liu Jinbao poured him tea while urging him to eat slower.
“Slow my ass! This old man was a slave for a full two months, not seeing a speck of meat every day. Finally caught this chance—I’ve got to eat my fill.”
“Didn’t you say last time you’d eaten enough meat? You were shouting about wanting to eat noodles. How has it reversed today?”
Yun Ye asked irritably. This fellow was born with a familiar face—even as a slave he could become an envoy’s attendant. Who knew how he did it.
After swallowing a big mouthful of chicken meat, Qu Zhuo wiped his mouth and said to Yun Ye, “This wild chicken is too dry—it doesn’t have the fat of the chickens from the estate. This time I estimated the great army would be blocked at the royal capital, so I came to Liaodong early and became a servant in Yeong Saewonya’s household. They like slaves who can speak Great Tang language. I bribed his household steward and landed a procurement job, so I could move about in the royal capital. Look, this is the topographical map of the royal capital I drew. I don’t know if it’s useful to you.”
Yun Ye watched as Qu Zhuo tore a large piece of cloth from his clothes. He patted his hand, letting him continue eating, while he himself brought that cloth to the commander’s tent.
“This is the internal topographical map of the royal capital, just brought out by our spy. You all look at where we should attack?” As Yun Ye spoke, he placed the cloth piece on the desk. Liu Fang didn’t look at the cloth piece but first asked Yun Ye, “Is this person reliable?”
“No need to doubt.” Yun Ye spoke decisively.
Only then did Liu Fang carefully examine the lines on the cloth piece, section by section comparing with his own map. After reading, he nodded to Yun Ye, indicating approval. Finally, he pointed at the west gate by the river and said, “Our attack point is here. Only after securing the west gate can we proceed with the next moves. Your plan only has a possibility of success when the battle is in stalemate.”
“Mr. Liu, I don’t want to fill the city assault with our soldiers’ bones. If it’s like that, I’d rather turn back to Great Tang right now. I believe not a single person in the court could fault me. I’ll only try that plan once. Whether it succeeds or not, I’ll immediately order breaking camp and returning home.”
Liu Fang nodded and said, “We don’t possess the strength to take the royal capital. Quan Yeonji also knows this. He’s wholeheartedly thinking of wearing us to death under the royal capital. Look here—the royal capital doesn’t have just one city wall, but a full four walls. As long as we enter the first city wall, if we don’t take the wall, when the thousand-pound gate at the city gate drops, we’ll be trapped in the barbican—definitely a dead end. So from the start of the siege, we need to suppress the enemy with absolute superiority, then send small elite forces to destroy their water source. Only this way is there possibility of completing your plan.”
“The navy is our only retreat route. We must ensure their safety. As long as we break out to the Liao River and reach the great sea, it’s our world.”
Liu Fang’s words kept Yun Ye sleepless all night. The old fellow had no intention of casually going through the motions, no plan to just touch the royal capital and be done with it, but was truly preparing to assault the city. It was just unknown how he would fill that wide moat.
At sunrise, the oxhide war drums thundered. Yun Ye rode on horseback, following behind Wu She, slowly walking toward the royal capital. The further forward they walked, the more he discovered the royal capital was tall and imposing. When they walked to a place less than three li from the city, this towering city before his eyes almost pressed down on Yun Ye until he couldn’t breathe.
Even with the most thorough preparation, Yun Ye didn’t believe this city could be broken through relying on flesh and blood alone. There were no swaggering generals running out demanding single combat, nor anyone shouting insults toward the city top. These third-rate tricks had not the slightest effect in actual warfare. Yun Ye, this military novice who only knew ancient warfare from “Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” was full of resentment toward Luo Guanzhong.
The battlefield was quiet. Not a single person was on the city walls. Suddenly, a mountain-collapsing, sea-surging cry rang from the city top. From behind the low battlements suddenly surged countless Goguryeo soldiers. In an instant, they filled the walls.
Liu Fang remained unmoved. He waved the flag in his hand, and Yun Ye discovered a large row of soldiers holding tall shields walk out from the orderly ranks. One step, one pause, one step, one battle cry—their prestige didn’t fall behind at all.
Those bare-backed men chanting work songs and pushing siege vehicles were enveloped in steam in the early spring cold sun, step by step pushing the siege vehicles to a position only half a li from the city. Behind them, catapults with long arms slowly followed. Ox carts loaded with stones struggled to follow behind.
Yun Ye was a bit disappointed. Today could only reach this step. Arranging the offensive posture couldn’t be completed in just a day or two. Only attacking one city gate, with three other gates available for the enemy to maneuver—they had too few troops. No wonder military texts said, “Surround at ten times, annihilate at five times.” Twelve thousand troops attacking a city defended by ten thousand men was itself a suicidal act. If not for Yun Ye’s super luxurious equipment and the sharp weapon of fire oil available to use, even if you beat Liu Fang to death he wouldn’t take this job.
Those old commanders in Chang’an were all waiting for news of Yun Ye’s great defeat and return. As long as this news reached the capital and the soldiers suffered heavy casualties, then this battle would have to be fought even if they didn’t want to fight it. No one believed Yun Ye could accomplish this. Breaking through Bisha City and annihilating Goguryeo’s navy at Samsan Port was already beyond their expectations. The royal capital? Without more than a hundred thousand troops, taking it would be a joke.
“I shouldn’t have competed with those old fellows.” Yun Ye murmured to himself. Looking at these simple men who believed in him and traveled a thousand li to fight on this strange land, Yun Ye choked up until he could barely speak.
“Put away your tears. The battlefield can least afford to see this thing. Morale can be raised but not deflated. Straighten your chest, raise your head, loudly tell your soldiers—you will create an unprecedented miracle.” Liu Fang heavily slapped Wang Cai’s rump.
The neighing Wang Cai carried him swiftly shuttling back and forth before the formation. Yun Ye didn’t speak but only drew his saber, striking their weapons all along the way. The light clashing sounds of blade against blade instantly echoed across the battlefield.
Two sturdy soldiers struck down the trigger mechanism. The catapult’s thick arm hurled several huge stones far toward the city wall. Because the distance was a bit far, the landing wasn’t ideal—they just heavily smashed against the city wall, the stones shattered, and finally fell into the moat. Great Tang’s soldiers shouted in unison, praising their victorious opening.
As if performing a play, several huge stones also flew from inside the city walls, heavily smashing not far from the catapults. Because they weren’t round stone bullets, smashing into the mud, they only bounced twice before ceasing to move.
Liu Fang was actually sounding the gong to withdraw troops. Those soldiers who had already deployed slowly retreated.
That’s it? Yun Ye looked at the sun slightly westward—there was still time. Why not continue bombarding the walls?
“This is a warning and also a greeting—telling them if they don’t surrender, it’s death. They’re also telling us, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, they’ll fight to the death.” Liu Fang’s white teeth looked very much like a beast’s teeth.