Chapter 12: Gao Qi Presents His Plan

  The mountain city in the dark night was exceptionally quiet, and the soldiers of Goguryeo who had surrendered were quietly busy. From time to time, a gust of mountain wind blew by, bringing the unknown bird calls from afar, adding to the silence of the night. Chen Kefu put back on his armor bestowed upon him by the emperor, now he only had two teams of soldiers with him, and they were guarding more than 200 Goguryeo generals and their guards.

  Just thinking about the 9,000 Goguryeo cavalrymen in the city made him feel a bit heavy-hearted. Except for that day when he crossed over and had that half-dreamlike battle, today was his first real battle. During the daytime battle on the battlefield against the Goguryeo people, he didn't feel anything out of the ordinary, just knowing to follow the military tactics and formations he learned from Li Fenglei, deploying troops and engaging in combat, then wielding his spear to charge left and right after the battle. At that time, there was no room to think about anything else, now here, anxiously waiting for Mao Yi's arrival on one hand, while worrying about the 9,000-strong Goguryeo army inside the city on the other.

  It felt like dancing on a steel wire, with every part of me tense and not daring to be careless in the slightest.

  Let Li Benlei take three troops to take over the city gate, which is also a helpless move. Although they have taken down the South City and designed to capture those officers, in order to prevent any accidents, it's better to grasp the city gate as soon as possible. This is the first city that Da Sui has attacked and captured in this eastern expedition, and it is also the first city that Chen Kefu has attacked and captured. He cannot afford to lose.

  The quiet and oppressive southern gate of the mountain city suddenly heard a wave of horseshoes, although it was clear that the sound was not very urgent, but still made the broken army camp soldiers on the south city gate tense.

  "General, it's General Mao and his troops! They've arrived!" exclaimed the officer in charge of defending the city.

  Chen Kefu's tense heart also relaxed, and he walked a few steps to the city head to look down. In the dark night, a large team of cavalry did not hold torches, but the south gate city head was already brightly lit. Chen Kefu saw at a glance that the leaders were Mao Yi and Lu Shideep.

  "Open the city gate and lower the drawbridge!"

  The tense soldiers of the Broken Army Camp were also relieved, with their arrival, New City was firmly in their grasp, this was a lavish wealth and honor, even if they were just ordinary city guards, they would still receive a large amount of gold and silver rewards.

  Mao Yi and Lu Shi-de brought five battalions of soldiers, who also received the news from Chen Ke-fu's dispatched soldiers. They only knew about their young master's bold idea after receiving the notification. Although the tactic of pretending to surrender had been used by many people throughout history, they couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat when they thought that Chen Ke-fu had only brought three battalions with him, while there were nearly ten thousand Goguryeo soldiers inside the city. After seeing that the soldiers on the battlefield had already been completely controlled by the broken army camp, Mao Yi and Lu Shi-de brought several captains from Chenjiazhuang and quickly led the five battalions to hurry over.

  Chen Kefu briefly told them the situation in the city, then said, "Now we still have half a night's time, at the latest before dawn tomorrow, we must get rid of the 9,000 troops in the camp. If not, they will definitely make trouble when they can't see their respective generals tomorrow. Now you divide into three teams and go to guard the other three city gates for me. The rest stay here, and we'll think of a way to solve those 9,000 Goguryeo soldiers at once."

  "General, what's the point of wasting our energy? Why don't we just gather our troops and charge into their camp? Those Goguryeo people are probably all asleep. We can finish them off while they're dreaming, isn't that perfect?"

  This is indeed a good method, but there are more than 9,000 Goguryeo people, and now this city is also full of Goguryeo people. Who knows if it will get out of control when the chaos starts? Most importantly, although this ambush has a high success rate, they have 3,000 against 9,000, and in the chaotic battle, they will definitely lose many of their own men. This is what Chen Kefu is most unwilling to see happen.

  Gao Qi bowed his head and stood aside for a long time before suddenly saying, "Sir, I have a plan that will surely help the general succeed."

  Mao Hui and others also knew that this person was the commander of Goguryeo's new city, and his behavior of running away when he couldn't win and surrendering when caught was extremely shameful. At this time, hearing that he actually took the initiative to ask for his own army to deal with him, they were even more contemptuous of his character. The straightforward Lu Shi spat a mouthful of saliva beside him, "Sir, it's better not to listen to such treacherous and deceitful words, who knows what kind of heart he has."

  Maoyi also nodded, although they took down the new city without bloodshed under Gao Qi's coordination, but who knows what this person is thinking in his heart.

  Gao Qi saw that everyone was looking at him with disgust, and he felt very uncomfortable in his heart. However, since he had already taken down Xin City with the help of the Sui people, he no longer had a way to turn back. Now his only extravagant hope was that the Sui people would keep their word, and let him enjoy wealth and glory in Great Sui.

  "Sir, my method can definitely help you to subdue the 9,000 people in the camp without expending a single soldier or general. However, I have one request: if you capture Pyongyang in the future, please return my family to me."

  Under the flickering torchlight, Gao Qi's pale face looked even more disheveled and somewhat frightened. Although he still had some guard against Gao Qi, his words that could help him take down the Goguryeo military camp without losing a single soldier were too enticing. What was most precious to him now was these three thousand broken soldiers, all of whom were seasoned veterans who couldn't be replaced by just recruiting a few more. Not to mention anything else, even if an ordinary imperial guard wanted to become proficient in cavalry warfare, it wouldn't be something that could be accomplished in just two or three months.

  After careful consideration, Chen Kefu nodded, "As long as your method works, I will agree to your request. If one day I take down Ping'an, I will definitely return your family to you."

  "It's actually quite simple to take down the barracks, sir. Just send out a messenger to tell all the soldiers that tomorrow they will be fighting against the invading Sui army, and as a special reward, give them beef, mutton, wine, and meat. Once those soldiers are drunk, you can sneak into the camp and kill them off guard. Even if there were 90,000 of them, it wouldn't matter."

  Looking at Gao Qi's forced smile, Chen Kefu also felt an inexplicable sense of disgust. In any era, in any country or nation, there are always people like this who are arrogant and domineering at home, even holding high positions. But when it comes to a life-or-death crisis, they don't have the slightest bit of backbone, and they're the first ones to surrender to the enemy.

  Although he was extremely disgusted in his heart and even wanted to chop off the man's head, Chen Kefu understood that for him, this kind of person was exactly what he needed right now. Thinking of this, he restrained the disgust in his heart, put on a smiling face and said, "Prince Wang is indeed wise, this plan is excellent. Come, prepare good wine and meat for Prince Wang, and let Prince Wang take a good bath. Prince Wang has been tired all day and needs to rest too. Luo Lin, dispatch a team of people to protect Prince Wang well, if anything goes wrong, you will be the one to blame." When Chen Kefu said the two words "protect", his tone was particularly heavy.

  Luolin nodded clearly and arranged a team of people to take good care of him.

  "Call over the surrendered generals, let them do as we just discussed. First, let's comfort and console the soldiers of Goguryeo." Chen Kefu said with a smile.

  Lu Shi was also a good drinker at ordinary times, but now he had been fighting all day and hadn't even gotten a sip for himself. Instead, he had to prepare wine and meat for the Goguryeo people first. His mouth was full of resentment as he said, "Eat, eat, let those damned Goguryeo bastards eat their fill and get drunk so they can be on their way. This is also a display of my benevolence towards them."

  Next week there's a recommendation, everyone give me some support and throw a few recommendation votes my way.