Chapter 179: Great Victory to the Tang Dynasty! (asking for monthly votes)
The destructive power of the catapult on the city wall was enormous. The city walls at that time were far less solid than those in the future, not to mention that the technological level of Goguryeo was not very advanced. Under the tremendous force of the huge rocks, the city walls soon collapsed.

After two more rounds of throwing, Li Shiji drew out his sword and swung it towards Gaimu City.

"Soldiers! Attack!"

Accompanied by Li Shiji's generals, the Tang army began to attack Gaimu City in an orderly manner.

The defenders, who were dazed by the huge rocks, were unable to resist the well-equipped and well-trained Tang army. After just one wave of charge, the defenders of Gaimu City were quickly defeated.

At noon that day, the defenders of Gaimu City officially lost their ability to resist, and the city lord had no choice but to announce his surrender to the Tang army.

Li Shiji ordered his men to count the results of the battle. In this battle, a total of 14 Tang soldiers were killed and more than 100 were injured, most of whom were slightly injured. 1,120 people were beheaded, more than 3,000 defenders were captured, more than 20,000 civilians, and more than 100,000 shi of food and fodder were captured.

At the same time, Goguryeo also learned the news of the fall of Gaimu City. According to normal rules, they believed that the Tang army should take over Xuantu City and Xincheng after conquering Gaimu City.

However, when the Goguryeo army focused its attention on Xuantu City and Xincheng in the north, Zhang Jian, the commander-in-chief of the Tang army, led the Khitan and Xi cavalry to secretly cross the Liaodong Great Wall, along the southern coastline, defeated the Goguryeo border defense forces on the west bank of the Liaohe River, and arrived at Jian'an City at the northern end of the Liaodong Peninsula.

The Goguryeo people came out of the city to fight, and the Tang army led the Hu cavalry to defeat the defenders and beheaded thousands of them.

Li Shiji and Li Daozon ordered the troops to take the food and fodder they had obtained and rush to Liaodong City without stopping according to the original plan.

At this time, the Goguryeo people finally realized that the Tang army was advancing on three fronts simultaneously in the north, center and south, but the primary target was Liaodong City. In order to ensure that Liaodong City was not lost, Yeon Gaesomun ordered the 40,000 troops defending the front line to retreat to rescue Liaodong City and besiege Li Shiji and Li Daozon.

After all, the Tang army did not have many people at this time because they had to send troops to guard the beachhead position of Gaimu City, and at the same time send troops to Liaodong City for a roundabout outflanking. Li Shiji and Li Daozon's troops only had a few thousand cavalry.

After arriving at the city of Liaodong, the generals' opinions diverged.

"Since Goguryeo has already sent reinforcements, we should proceed steadily." Li Shiji looked at the map in the central army tent, and after a moment's silence, he continued, "Now that the enemy is numerous and we are few, we should dig deep trenches and build high fortifications, waiting for the saint's army to arrive and wipe out the Goguryeo reinforcements!"

"What the Grand Commander said is very true!" Zhang Junyi, the Chief of the March, was the first to express his support: "I think it is not appropriate to meet the enemy head-on."

Fu Fuai, the commander of the Guoyi Commandery, also agreed: "What the general manager said makes sense. Now that the enemy outnumbers us, we should take advantage of the situation and hold our ground."

"I don't think it's appropriate." Li Daozong raised an objection: "We are going to Liaodong City with light cavalry to encircle it, and we have no baggage to follow. If we adopt a defensive approach, we will definitely be passive. If the Liaodong City defenders take advantage of the battle between the reinforcements and our army to rush out, we will be attacked from both sides. What should we do?"

"What does the deputy general manager mean?" Li Shiji asked.

"In my opinion, the enemy reinforcements have tens of thousands of troops. They will certainly look down on our army because of their large numbers." Li Dao Zong pointed at the map and said, "Besides, our army is the vanguard and should lead the way for the king and clear a path for the saint. How can we leave the enemy to the saint?"

After thinking for a while, Li Shiji looked at Zhang Junyi and others and asked, "What do you think?"

"We think we should defend it!" Zhang Junyi said with his arms crossed.

Afterwards, Fu Fuai and others also stepped forward to express their agreement with Zhang Junyi's opinion.

As the commander-in-chief of the army, Li Shiji could not ignore Zhang Junyi's opinions.

Seeing Li Shiji hesitating, Li Daozon made up his mind.

He was about to speak to persuade Li Shiji again, but he saw Li Xiang who was looking at the map beside Li Shiji.

Of course, Li Shiji also noticed Li Daozon's gaze. In fact, he also supported Li Daozon's opinion to a certain extent, but now the defense faction has the upper hand, and he also needs to add some counterweights to the weight.

On the other hand, he also remembered Li Shimin's reply and planned to help Old Li give Li Xiang a small test in class.

"Grand Commander, what do you think?" Li Shiji did not say "Prince", but called Li Xiang by his most formal official title - Grand Commander of Dengzhou.

In theory, the Chief of the Army and the Grand Commander are of the same rank. In the local area, he is the Grand Commander, while when on a march or expedition, he is the Grand Chief of the Army.

So even though Li Xiang is young, his words carry a certain weight, whether it is his official title or his previous political achievements.

Li Xiang paced a few steps in the tent with his hands behind his back, looked around at the generals, then looked down at the map with a calm tone.

"The enemy has increased its troops in Liaodong City. It would be risky for us to rush in and fight them."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Junyi, Fu Fuai and other people who supported the defense couldn't help but smile.

The Prince of Hengshan also supports our defensive strategy, so it looks like... it's stable!
Li Xiang reached out and knocked on the table to attract the attention of the generals again.

"However, as early as February this year, the Saint asked us to make a detour to encircle Liaodong City and completely penetrate the Great Wall defense line of Goguryeo. If we wait until these tens of thousands of reinforcements are completed and join forces with the enemies in Liaodong City, then Liaodong City will become a tough nut to crack."

Having said this, Li Daozon and Li Shiji looked at each other and nodded.

Li Xiang continued, "If we talk about taking risks, I think it's worth taking."

At this point, his voice was steady and powerful: "At this critical moment, we should not look back!"

"Okay!" Li Shiji took this opportunity to support Li Xiang's words: "In this case, I will lead 2,000 troops to monitor the enemy's movements in Liaodong City; Li Daozong and Zhang Junyi, you two will lead your 4,000 cavalry to fight against the Goguryeo reinforcements; the Prince of Hengshan will lead 3,000 Tibetan cavalry to raid the rear, and wait until the critical moment to make the final decision!"

"Yes!" all the generals responded.

In the morning of the next day, scouts came to report that Goguryeo reinforcements were spotted ten miles to the northeast.

Li Shiji immediately gave the order to fight against the Goguryeo army according to the original plan.

Since our unit is composed entirely of cavalry, the location chosen for the battlefield was a plain.

There's nothing fancy about it, just do it.

Behind Li Xiang were three thousand Tibetan cavalrymen. The reserve troops did not need to go up for the time being. They could just stand at the commanding heights in the rear and wait and see.

This was also Li Shiji's arrangement. After all, the Prince of Hengshan was the crown prince and the future heir to the Tang Empire. This young man was extremely precious and must not be lost.

"Don't worry, Prince. I will protect you." Xue Rengui said to Li Xiang while riding on his horse.

Li Xiang glanced at him and said nothing.

Lun Qinling almost stood on his horse, with his hands on the awning, watching the movements of the Goguryeo army from afar.

Even though they were a guest army, everyone could see that they were more anxious than the Tang army.

Just as Li Xiang was about to speak, he felt something eating his clothes.

Looking down, he saw a big black horse, its eyes staring at him and its mouth moving.

"Whoa... whoa!" The captain on horseback saw his horse's dishonest mouth and pulled back by the reins, smiling at Li Xiang embarrassedly: "Sorry, Prince, my horse...is not very honest."

"Hahahaha..." Li Xiang didn't say anything. He thought this big dark horse was quite cute.

He took out a handful of rock candy from the bag on his horse and handed it to the captain, then asked with a smile, "What's your name?"

"I am Ma Wenju, the brave and resolute commander." Ma Wenju took the rock candy and asked hesitantly, "Prince, is this ice?"

"Hahahaha...what ice cubes? Try it." Li Xiang motioned for him to eat one.

Ma Wenju didn't think Li Xiang would harm him, so he immediately picked up a piece and put it in his mouth. After a while, he exclaimed in surprise, "It's candy! It's sweet!"

After smacking his lips twice, he asked again, "Prince, can I share these candies?"

Li Xiang nodded and agreed to Ma Wenju's request. He handed the bag to Ma Wenju and said, "Give it all away so that the soldiers can moisten their throats."

“This… isn’t this bad?” Ma Wenju didn’t dare to take it. This rock candy didn’t taste strange at all and was sweet to the heart. It must be an extremely expensive and good thing. How could he dare to share it with others?

"Let's divide it up. They are all warriors who fought for our Tang Dynasty." Li Xiang said with a smile.

After getting Li Xiang's approval, Ma Wenju beat his chest to express his gratitude to Li Xiang, and took rock sugar and distributed it to the soldiers one by one.

Although there was not much candy, Ma Wenju's troops only had more than 200 people. After eating Li Xiang's candy, they pounded their armor on their chests and thanked Li Xiang.

"Thank you, Prince, for the candy!"

Li Xiang nodded without saying much.

It's good to eat a piece of candy before a battle.

Eating sugar can secrete dopamine. In this cold morning, when you are about to kill the enemy, eating a piece of sweet sugar can be a great boost to morale.

Soon, Goguryeo's reinforcements appeared in sight.

"Brothers!" Ma Wen raised his lance and shouted, "They say he has more Goguryeo troops, but I don't believe it! How can the Tang army show its might without encountering a strong enemy? Today we have to tell them that we are not scared!"

"Don't even mention the tens of thousands of Goguryeo bastards. Even if the God of Goguryeo comes, we will pull out a few hairs from his beard!"

"I told you, if we meet on a narrow road--"

The soldiers shouted, "The brave wins!"

"Brothers, follow me!"

Ma Wenju threw away the whip, whipped the horse's butt hard, and rode forward in small steps towards the Goguryeo army.

Behind him, more than 200 cavalrymen followed Ma Wenju's footsteps and advanced slowly.

When they were within seventy or eighty steps, Ma Wenju shouted, "Move quickly!"

At the same time, Li Xiang also ordered people to beat the war drums.

"Boom...boom...boom..."

The deafening sound of war drums resounded across the entire plain. The Goguryeo troops had no time to react when suddenly encountering the enemy. How could they be a match for the Tang cavalry in such a hasty battle?
What's more, Ma Wenju's charge was facing the flank of the Goguryeo army.

"Enemy attack - enemy attack - be careful -" the general in the Goguryeo army shouted in a hoarse warning.

"Long live the Tang Dynasty!" Ma Wenju shouted loudly, and seeing that there was less than thirty steps left, he urges his horse to move forward at full speed, and then he and his horse crash into the flank of Goguryeo.

Suddenly, people were on their backs.

Behind Ma Wenju, hundreds of cavalrymen rushed towards the enemy formation, piercing through the troops like a hot knife cutting through butter.

When people suddenly encounter a cavalry charge, they will subconsciously dodge.

What's more, Goguryeo was caught off guard by Ma Wenju's troops and had no time to respond.

Ma Wenju swung the long spear in his hand, and every time he swung it, he would harvest a fresh life. The metallic sound of weapons clashing and the neighing of war horses mixed together, composing a bloody movement on this messy land.

At the same time, more than a thousand cavalrymen of Li Daozon's army also launched an attack on the Goguryeo army from another direction.

The neighing of war horses, the shouts of Tang soldiers, and the wailing of Goguryeo soldiers were heard incessantly. For a moment, the Tang army gained the upper hand despite being outnumbered by 4,000 to 40,000.

However, it was only the front army of Goguryeo that suffered a setback, and the army formations were not all connected.

When the front army was attacked, the army in the rear quickly reacted and formed a formation to fight against the cavalry.

At the same time, Goguryeo's cavalry also began to launch a counterattack on the flank of the Tang cavalry.

After all, Goguryeo had dozens of times more people than the Tang army. Due to the numerical disadvantage, the Tang army was stuck in a stalemate for a while.

Ma Wenju rushed too far and watched as the hundreds of cavalrymen he led were surrounded by Goguryeo's infantry and were trapped in the middle and engaged in a fierce battle.

However, these were the elite cavalry of the Tang army after all, and for a while, Goguryeo was unable to defeat them.

"The king of the county!"

Beside Li Xiang, Xue Rengui saw Ma Wenju being surrounded, and could not suppress the raging desire to fight in his heart, so he asked Li Xiang for a fight.

"伱......"

As soon as Li Xiang said this, he saw Ma Wen raise his lance high up and knock two Goguryeo soldiers off the ground.

"No need, they have already fought their way out." Li Xiang said, pointing at Ma Wenjuan who had led the cavalry out of the encirclement.

After Ma Wenju broke out of the encirclement, he reorganized himself a little, looked back at his subordinates, and actually smiled.

"Brothers! Do you enjoy killing?"

"It's not satisfying! The candy given by the prince hasn't melted yet!" a cavalryman nearby shouted.

"In that case, do you dare to charge at me again?" Ma Wen asked loudly, holding up his lance.

Hearing Ma Wenju's words, the soldiers shouted:

"The Tang Dynasty is victorious!"

"Long live the Tang Dynasty!" Ma Wenju shouted loudly, urging his horse again to charge towards the Goguryeo army.

The Goguryeo army thought they could take a short break after getting rid of these plague gods, but they never expected that these plague gods would turn around and come back to kill them again.

"Meet the enemy! Meet the enemy!" The Goguryeo captain reminded his subordinates at the top of his lungs.

"Hahahaha——" Ma Wenjuan laughed wildly and crashed into the Goguryeo formation again.

Under the urging of generals and captains, Goguryeo soldiers began to rush towards Ma Wenju and others from all directions.

If one thousand people can't stop them, then add another thousand! Until these ignorant Tang cavalrymen are surrounded and killed!

This tactic was quite effective. After all, the cavalry were still made of flesh and blood, and were already showing signs of fatigue under this siege where they were risking their lives.

The general of the Goguryeo reinforcements ordered their troops to attack the central army and surround Li Daozon's troops, making it difficult for them to escape in a short time.

Zhang Junyi originally wanted to rescue Li Daozon, but after seeing that the Goguryeo rear army was moving towards him, he quickly ordered a retreat.

For a moment, the Tang army was at a disadvantage!

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(End of this chapter)