Chapter Sixteen: A Bountiful Harvest

  The summer night is exceptionally long. As the sun rises gradually in the east, the mountain city seems to come alive all at once, and the whole city starts to bustle with activity.

  However, when many early-rising woodcutters and traveling merchants rushed to the city gate, they found that it seemed to have changed overnight. The familiar guards at the city gate were all gone, replaced by strange faces with a murderous aura, wearing exquisite equipment, making them feel different from before.

  Just as they were about to reach the city gate, a leading soldier shouted loudly in an unintelligible language. Only those merchants who had traveled extensively throughout the country could make out that the soldier was speaking authentic Mandarin Chinese from the Central Plains, which left them even more astonished. The soldier continued to shout at them while pointing to a notice on the wall nearby.

  A group of early-rising Goguryeo people had no choice but to surround the notice written in both Goguryeo and Sui scripts. A knowledgeable merchant read it aloud for everyone, "The land of Liaodong has been part of the Central Plains since the Zhou Dynasty of our Huaxia. Since the Han Dynasty, it was bestowed upon the royal family of Goguryeo, the Go clan, to govern on behalf of the imperial court. However, the Go clan of Goguryeo is greedy and insufficient, taking advantage of the chaos in the Central Plains to occupy Liaodong as their own territory and refusing to submit to our great Sui Emperor. Now, our great Sui Emperor personally leads an army of one million soldiers to conquer Goguryeo. The royal family of Goguryeo, with New City's Lord Qi heart filled with fear, knowing that the emperor is approaching, specially offers New City as a gift and submits to us. From this day forward, New City returns to its original state under China. All citizens within the city must remain calm and not leave their homes without reason. Any gathering without permission will be punished according to the law for treason and rebellion. The entire family will be executed, and the 'lianzuo' law will be applied, where five neighboring households will be implicated and executed together if one household is found guilty of treason. Ninth year of the Great Sui Dynasty, the great military achievement of the Sui Empire, Eagle General Chen Ke."

  The sky is getting brighter, and more and more people are gathering at the city gate of Goguryeo Castle. Most people already know what happened. The king has surrendered to Sui, and now this place belongs to the Sui people. Each household is not allowed to go out and gather together, otherwise they will be beheaded for treason and rebellion, and five households will be executed together.

  The contents of the notice were quickly spread among everyone, and many timid citizens no longer dared to stay here, rushing back home. For them, it didn't matter whether it was the King of Goguryeo or the Emperor of Sui who came to govern them; what mattered most was their own lives.

  Only a few people still lingered there, unwilling to leave. These people were mostly also nobles in the city. Before long, a horseshoe sound rang out, and a team of Sui army cavalry rushed over, with one of them holding a large gong in his hand, constantly beating it. A high-ranking Goguryeo surrendered soldier opened his throat and shouted, "All people must immediately return home, no one is allowed to go out without orders, otherwise they will be punished for treason."

  The rest of the cavalry all held bows and arrows, as if they would shoot over with a word.

  An old man dressed in finery, the owner of a silk store in the eastern part of the city, had always been arrogant and tyrannical because his eldest son was a low-ranking officer in the garrison. He looked at the soldiers with disdain and shouted, "My son is an officer, how dare you point your bows at me? I'll have someone break your dog legs, you bunch of worthless commoners."

  Goguryeo had been at war for years, and Goguryeo was also composed of nobles, commoners, and slaves. The soldiers in the army were mostly commoners and slaves. In the past, this boss had always treated those Goguryeo soldiers like that, and now he couldn't help but bring out his old ways again.

  As soon as he finished speaking, a cavalryman on horseback shot an arrow into his brow, and the dignified old boss fell to the ground with an unbelievable look in his eyes, which remained wide open. No language can convey the threat of death more forcefully than this. The people who were still standing there, unwilling to leave, saw the Wei soldiers shoot and kill Zhao, the eastern city's official, without saying a word. At that moment, no one dared to stay there anymore, and they all ran back home with pale faces and trembling legs.

  And the cavalrymen who had just shot and killed Zhao Yuanwai seemed to have done something insignificant, put away their bows, and continued along the street to proclaim the Sui army's proclamation to all the residents of the city.

  The Goguryeo camp in the north of the city, where morning drills were usually held, was eerily quiet today. The sun had already risen high in the sky, but the camp remained still, as if all the soldiers were still fast asleep. Occasionally, a few soldiers would appear, but they were all wearing Sui army armor.

  The main account of the North Camp in Goguryeo Castle, this was where Gao Qi came to inspect his troops every morning. Although he only stayed here for a couple of hours each day, the large account remained magnificent and exceptionally spacious.

  The commander of the Broken Army, Chen, sat upright in his armor at the position where Gao Qi used to sit. Two rows of generals from the Broken Army stood solemnly on both sides below the tent. Except for a few lieutenants who were guarding important posts, all officers above the rank of team leader had gathered here.

  Gao Qi and the first Goguryeo general to surrender to the Sui army, stood at the very back, each with their heads hung low. Every single Sui general had an uncontrollable excitement and agitation on their face, there was no reason not to be excited, they had achieved a great merit by breaking through the enemy camp.

  "Last night at the stroke of dawn, under General's orders, we led our troops into the camp. The 9,000 Goguryeo soldiers were all drunk and unconscious, and we easily tied them up. They are still being held in the warehouse behind us, and many have not yet woken up. I estimate that they still don't know what happened. A few who resisted were beheaded on the spot. General, New City has completely fallen into my hands. The 20,000 Goguryeo soldiers, including over 200 officials, have all been captured. Of the 20,000 Goguryeo troops, over 900 were annihilated, and more than 3,000 were injured. The remaining 16,000+ soldiers were all taken prisoner. We also captured nearly 10,000 war horses, over 3,000 cattle, 100,000 suits of armor, and over 2 million stones of grain. There are countless other military equipment and supplies. In addition, New City has a population of over 60,000 people in more than 10,000 households. General, this is the greatest victory since our three campaigns against Goguryeo!""

  Military Counselor Zhao Cheng, who was also wearing armor and holding an account book, excitedly reported the results of the battle with a flushed face.

  Chen Kefu was most surprised and unexpected when he heard that more than 10,000 war horses, over 3,000 heads of cattle, 100,000 sets of armor, and over 2 million stones of grain were captured. The 200,000 stones of grain alone could supply an army of 200,000 for a year, what a great gift! The Sui army's tens of thousands of troops had to transport their food from the Central Plains, with 100 stones of grain being transported from the Central Plains and nearly ten times that amount being consumed by the time it reached Liaodong. Suddenly having such a large amount of grain would save the Sui army so much trouble!

  "Can Your Highness tell me why there are so many grain and fodder supplies in this new city?"

  Gao Qi's face was bitter as he said, "After the war with Sui began, King Goguryeo ordered all frontline troops in Liaodong to clear the walls and fortify the mountain cities. He relocated a large number of villagers from surrounding tribes into the city and stored a large amount of supplies in each city. According to King Goguryeo's plan, each city had enough food for everyone to eat for a year, in order to drag down the Sui army that came to conquer."

  I went, Chen Kefu silently cursed in his heart, it turned out that the Goguryeo people had long since set their strategy, wanting to use a turtle-back strategy, relying on those solid mountain cities, to play a defensive battle with the Sui army, a war of attrition. Thinking about the several failures of the Sui army's conquest of Goguryeo in history, it was indeed mostly due to this.

  Chen Kefu stood up straight and said loudly, "This time I broke the army camp for the first time, and achieved such achievements, it is indeed thanks to the blessing of our emperor. Tomorrow we will discuss the merits and rewards, and each of you will not be short of a generous reward. Wang Lin, the military advisor, listen to the order!"

  "Long live the Emperor!"

  Chen Kefu handed him a folded paper and said, "This is the detailed report of this time I broke the military camp to conquer Xincheng, with the full record of the military achievements of all the generals. Now you immediately lead a team of people and horses to rush to Liaodong City, report the victory to His Majesty, and ask His Majesty to quickly dispatch an army of people and horses to come. My three thousand broken military camp soldiers are guarding such a big city, which is quite laborious. Also bring General Gao Qi to present to His Majesty, be careful on the road, go quickly and return quickly."

  As soon as Wang Lin heard that the general had given him such a good job, he was also extremely excited. After making great contributions to the broken army camp, he would go to report to the emperor and definitely get a generous reward. Chen Kefu didn't let his own brothers go, but let him go, which means treating himself as a confidant. Thinking again about Chen Kefu's numerous achievements in a short period of time, following him in the future will surely make oneself prosperous too. At that moment, excitedly expressing his loyalty to Chen Kefu, he happily led a team of people to take Gao Qi directly to Liaodong City.

  The new book has risen by sixty places, brothers, let's pull together and get into the top twelve! Seeking recommendation votes!