Chapter 39: Heavy Losses

  "General, I've investigated clearly. The troops of Sui in the later array were the ones we had previously surrounded in the mountain valley, numbering only over a thousand. Now those two troops of Sui have merged together and retreated into the mountain valley."

  Twenty miles south of the battlefield at dawn, Yizhi Wende led his army to retreat and re-encamp. In the main camp tent, Yiwende and other military generals listened to a scout's report.

  Yizhi Wende's face turned completely green, and with a clang, he drew the long sword from his waist and struck it at the table in the tent, splitting the simple wooden table in two.

  All the generals in the account dared not speak another word, and everyone felt an extremely oppressive atmosphere.

  "Shame, shame! This is the shame of all Goguryeo people! First, my vanguard of 3,000 was annihilated by a thousand cavalrymen. Then, more than 70,000 men attacked a small valley defended by only a thousand men, and after several hours of fighting, they still couldn't break in. In the end, they were even defeated by a detachment of 1,000 Sui cavalrymen, causing them to flee in all directions. Finally, the entire army had to retreat 20 li, allowing the Sui army's 2,000 men to calmly re-enter the valley. Do you know how many sons we lost from last night to this morning?"

  Yeon Gaesomun angrily looked at the many generals in the tent, "Last night, our army lost more than 11,000 people, and the wounded were as many as 20,000. We also lost my Goguryeo's first brave warrior, Daejoyeong. My Goguryeo has been established for over 500 years, but we have never had such a great defeat. An army of 80,000 was defeated by 2,000 people, with casualties reaching nearly 30%, this is the shame of all of us!"

  Yizheng Wende was about to go crazy, when he led an army of 50,000 and defeated the Sui dynasty's army of 300,000 at Sahe, allowing only 2,000 Sui soldiers to escape. But now, with the same army under his command, he was defeated by a Sui army of 2,000, suffering nearly 30,000 casualties and losing a great general; even he himself could not believe such a result.

  "Sir, that valley is surrounded by mountains on three sides with only one entrance, and the entrance is so treacherous that it can only accommodate a few hundred people at most. Now that the Sui army has retreated into the valley, we have no choice but to... General, why don't we divide our troops into two routes? Leave 10,000 men here to continuously attack the valley, and send the main force to break through the enemy's camp first, and then rescue the people of Goguryeo?" A general looked at Yiwende and suggested hastily.

  Yi Wen Zhende fell silent for a moment, "Jin Daming, I order you to lead the 40,000 cavalry to quickly attack the Sui army's main camp, rescue the captured Goguryeo generals and civilians in the camp. The remaining wounded soldiers and warriors will stay with me here, I swear not to stop until those 2,000 Sui soldiers in the valley are annihilated." Yi Wen Zhende had already been fueled by true anger, such a defeat made him feel deeply humiliated, only the blood of the Sui army could wash away the humiliation he suffered.

  At this time, the valley was a joyful ocean. All the broken army cavalry had originally made up their minds to die, but they did not expect that the Goguryeo people would retreat in the end. The soldiers of the Broken Army who had walked through the Ghost Gate, after merging with the other troops, hastily searched for and brought back their fallen comrades on the battlefield, and retreated back to the valley together. After the mouth of the valley was once again blocked by trees and giant rocks, everyone finally felt a long-lost sense of safety.

  The soldiers of the Broken Army Camp and some soldiers from the Left Wing Guard gathered together, for everyone, this was an unforgettable night, this night was too long for everyone. The black war flag of the Broken Army Camp, although damaged in many places, still held steadily in Luo Lin's hand, as the mountain wind blew by, the black war flag embroidered with the words "Broken Army" fluttered in the wind.

  When they finally stopped, the soldiers of the Broken Army felt wave after wave of exhaustion. Wearing two layers of heavy armor, carrying two quivers of arrows, a crossbow and a bow, a horizontal sword, and wielding a heavy cavalry spear to charge and kill for half a day, many soldiers had just rolled off their saddles and fell asleep on the ground.

  Chen Kefu and others directed everyone to make good defensive plans, and finally breathed a sigh of relief and stopped. At this time, his body was already soaked with blood and sweat, fighting for half a day, and only then did he discover that he had fortunately not been injured at all.

  Hu Hai and Luo Lin, Mao Yu and other generals rushed over, Hu Hai's scarred face was exceptionally clear due to excitement. "General, we won! We won! Our thousand men defeated the tens of thousands of Goguryeo cavalry, we succeeded!"

  Chen Kefu looked at the fierce general in front of him, his body covered in blood, and it was unclear whether it belonged to the Goguryeo people or himself. The double-layered heavy armor on his body had long been damaged, and if he hadn't worn two layers of armor when he came, this brave officer would have become a lonely ghost on the battlefield by now.

  "Yes, we won, not only did we win, but we also defeated the Goguryeo people. Unfortunately, our brave Broken Army Camp knights were still injured, and they didn't have to sacrifice themselves here." Chen Kefu's mood was very heavy and angry as he said this. When they returned, they brought back nearly over 300 corpses of the Broken Army Camp, including 13 of his personal bodyguards, the 50 most courageous soldiers by his side. In such an intense battle, there were no severe injuries, because severe injuries meant death. Over 300 of the best Broken Army Camp soldiers fell here. All this was because of that damned Wu Sansi, Chen Kefu had never hated anyone as much as he hated this spoiled noble at this moment.

  Those brave generals, if they didn't fall here, could follow their own to establish more achievements, they still have a long way of life to go, and they still have family members at home. From the moment they met on the battlefield until now, Chen Kefu Lian had not even thought about greeting Yuwen Huaji. If possible, he just wanted to cut off this damned guy with one knife.

  Hu Hai and others looked at the corpses on the ground not far away, their mood was heavy for the first time.

  Gao Liang and Yu Wen's culture slowly walked to the side of several broken army camp leaders, at this time they were also a little embarrassed, it was because they followed Chen Ke Fu's order, arbitrarily left the camp, as a result, they wanted to take credit, finally leading to being trapped here. If Chen Ke Fu hadn't led people to rescue them, these thousands of people would have had a hard time defending the valley.

  "General Pojun, we subordinates have caused this crisis by secretly leaving the camp, and it is truly unforgivable. Please, sir, punish us." Gaoliang was now completely convinced of this young general's abilities. Not only did he not blame them for sneaking out of the camp, but after receiving the distress signal, he even personally led a thousand men to charge into the tens of thousands-strong enemy army to rescue them, which was truly moving. Especially since Chen Kefu had come in person and achieved the feat of breaking through the tens of thousands-strong Goguryeo army with just a thousand men, Gaoliang admired him extremely.

  Those rough and unrefined leaders in the military are sometimes very simple-minded, young and holding high positions they will be disobedient, but if you take out real achievements, then they will also sincerely convince.

  Looking at the man kneeling in front of him, who was also covered in blood, Chen Kefu didn't know what to say. He was very angry with his recklessness, but after all, Gao Hualong was not his subordinate, he was under Yuwen Shu's command. Even if Chen Kefu really wanted to punish him, his power did not extend that far.

  "General Gao, please get up, I can't bear the sight of you like this. General Gao was originally a member of the Left Wing Guard and is not under my command. Your departure from the camp must have been carefully planned and considered. As for right or wrong, it will be up to General Yuwen of the Left Wing Guard to judge in due time. Please get up first, I still need to thank you today, if it weren't for your timely intervention at the critical moment, all these hundreds of broken army soldiers would have been wiped out." Chen Kefu thought that Gao Liang was also a good and bold warrior, but he couldn't help feeling uneasy about the more than 300 broken army soldiers who fell here because of him.

  Yuwen Shu smiled and said, "Thank you, General Pu, for coming to rescue my brother. Today, you truly shone brightly! With just a thousand cavalry, you defeated the numerous Goguryeo horsemen - this is indeed a rare feat in ancient times. When we return to Liaodong, I will definitely report this matter to His Majesty the Emperor. Don't be disheartened, General Pu, it's just that three hundred soldiers were lost in battle. When we return to Liaodong, I'll let my old man take care of it. This time, you have achieved great merit, and when the time comes, my family's old man will definitely help you get promoted again. Who knows, maybe you'll even be granted a noble title? You won't have to worry about not having soldiers then - in Great Sui, we may lack other things, but we have plenty of soldiers. If you really want more troops, when the time comes, I can ask my old man to arrange for three thousand more for you, no problem."

  Although he was extremely displeased in his heart, and even had the urge to kick Yuwen Huaji to death, he suppressed the anger in his heart and put on a smile, saying: "Lord Yuwen, how can you say such things? This time we went to war, it was what should have been done. I also want to congratulate Lord Yuwen, with one thousand soldiers defeating three thousand enemy cavalry, and this morning again greatly defeating the tens of thousands strong army of Gao Jun, this is truly a great achievement. When the time comes for the Emperor to reward our merits, Lord Yuwen will surely be rewarded as the first."

  Yu Wenhai and others such as Chen Kefu arrived to provide reinforcements, the fear in his heart had dissipated. After listening to Chen Kefu's words, he was even more delighted, shamelessly laughing and saying: "Brother Pojun is overpraising me, this achievement still belongs to Brother Pojun, I merely made some trivial contributions. When the time comes for His Majesty to assess our merits and bestow rewards, it would be good enough if he remembers that I have a share." However, between the lines of his words, it seemed as though he had truly achieved great military merit, as if the tens of thousands of Goguryeo troops were all repelled by him.

  The generals Hu Hai and Lu Shide of the Broken Army Camp suppressed their anger in their hearts and secretly cursed.

  It's really been exploded by chrysanthemum, the great god is so cool, just opening a new book and rushing up with just a few words, the recommendation ticket is so fierce. Brothers, it's almost New Year's now, everyone's tickets are like advance red envelopes... By the way, Starting Point has a lucky draw activity recently, you guys can also try your luck, one chance per day! If you win Starting Point coins, remember to reward me half of them later...

  The Nine Transformations of Heaven