Chapter 185 Please remember, I will make the following deployment adjustments (ask for monthly tickets)

Until Yeon Gaesomun crossed the Yalu River, there was no news of the siege of Ugut City.

This anomaly certainly attracted Yeon Gaesomun's attention. Logically speaking, Li Xiang had set out more than ten days ago and should have arrived near Ugut City long ago.

However, just when he was hesitating and thinking that the news previously transmitted to Pyongyang was false, a report suddenly came from the vanguard that the 20,000-strong vanguard army led by Baekje King Buyeo Uija was defeated in Sangjian, and Buyeo Uija only escaped with his life and fled back to the army in embarrassment.

Upon hearing the news, Yeon Gaesomun was both happy and angry. He was happy because he finally determined the location of Li Xiang's army, but he was angry because Buyeo Ui-ji underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, only to be beaten and flee in panic.

Fortunately, Baekje's main force is still there, so it is not seriously damaged.

After all, Buyeo Uija was the king of Baekje, and it was not easy for Yeon Gaesomun to hold him accountable, so the most he could do was to have a few private words with Goguryeo King Go Zang and let it go.

However, Buyeo Yiji also brought good news. The Japanese troops had already set out from Baekje, with a total of 30,000 people, and were heading towards Ugut City.

At the same time, there were differences within the coalition forces regarding the next combat operations.

The coalition forces were clearly divided into two factions, one led by Yeon Gaesomun's three sons, and the other led by Baekje King Buyeo Uija. The two sides were in a standoff.

"The Tang army is just getting victorious and their military is at its peak. We should not engage them in battle." Fuyu Yici pressed his hands on the table and said, "I think if the Tang army attacks, we should retreat without hesitation and wait for the right opportunity."

As he spoke, he pointed to the map and said, "It would be best to wait until the Japanese troops arrive and cut off the Tang army's retreat. Only in this way can we have the final decisive battle with Li Xiang."

"The Tang army fought all the way from Beisha City to Jian'an City, and then from Jian'an City to Jili City. Now they are exhausted and their combat effectiveness has been greatly weakened." Yuan Nanjian retorted: "In addition, the Tang army is already exhausted from fighting in the front, and behind our army, Japan has definitely joined the war. We should press on now and completely defeat this part of the Tang army!"

"The Tang army is powerful, so it is better to avoid the attack for the time being." Fu Yu Yici reiterated.

"Half of our troops have arrived, and 150,000 have crossed the Yalu River." Yuan Nanchan said in a steady voice, "Now that our army has an absolute advantage in manpower, if we continue to hide here and there and not engage with the Tang army, it will be too damaging to morale!"

"I have reservations." Fu Yu Yi Ci sighed.

"Is the king afraid of the Tang army?" Yuan Nanjian's tone was very impolite. After all, he was the son of a powerful official of Goguryeo, and Baekje was a vassal state of Goguryeo. "No wonder, the front army was defeated by the Tang army, so the king would naturally be afraid of the Tang army."

"You..." Buyeo Yici was so angry that this byd Yuan Nanjian was really not a human being.

"Alright!" Yeon Gaesomun stopped the quarrel in time: "I will make the final decision on whether to fight or not!"

After the meeting, Yeon Gaesomun sat there staring at the map in a daze. Suddenly, someone came to report that there was a messenger from the Tang army.

"Let him in," said Yeon Gaesomun.

Soon, Tang army messenger Ding Xiaoer walked in from outside.

Even in the midst of a war, envoys will still be respected. This is an unwritten rule in the Confucian cultural circle, and even the people on the grasslands abide by this rule.

Ding Xiaoer crossed his arms towards them, and Yeon Gaesomun asked, "What brings you here?"

"I am here to represent the will of the Prince of Hengshan." Ding Xiaoer said as he took out the letter from his arms.

Yeon Gaesomun asked his son to take it, unpack it and examine it carefully.

"The Prince of Hengshan intends to negotiate peace with me?" Yeon Gaesomun curled his lips. "He led his army to capture several cities in our country and destroyed the coalition fleet. Now he wants us to beg for peace and maintain the status quo?"

"The prince wants to have a private meeting with you, Da Molizhi." Ding Xiaoer said, "If you don't want to meet with the prince, you can also send a full-power representative who is capable of representing you to our military camp for negotiations."

Yeon Gaesomun originally wanted to refuse, but then he thought, this might be a good opportunity.

After hesitating for a moment, he said to Ding Xiaoer, "Since the prince has invited me, I will send my third son, Nanchan, to your army camp!"

After Ding Xiaoer left the tent, Yuan Gaesomun looked at Yuan Nanchan and carefully instructed him: "When you go to the Tang army camp, you must carefully find out the truth and make sure you understand the Tang army's intentions!"

"Yes!" Yuan Nanchan responded solemnly.

Yeon Gaesomun certainly would not hide the fact that Li Xiang sent a messenger to the coalition camp. When the coalition learned of this, there was a cheer.

Fuyu Yici also felt relieved. In his opinion, this was a sign that the Tang army was guilty. Facing an army of more than 200,000, even a skilled cook would be helpless without rice.

After Yuan Nanchan arrived at the Tang army camp, he was taken to the tent by Ding Xiaoer.

When he entered the tent, Li Xiang was talking to Xue Rengui.

"This is for Aung..."

After seeing Yuan Nan giving birth, Li Xiang suddenly shut up.

He looked annoyed and looked at Ding Xiaoer.

"This is the third son of Da Molizhi, Yuan Nanchan." Ding Xiaoer introduced.

Yuan Nanchan of course heard what Li Xiang just said, and he was secretly happy.

"Greetings, Prince Hengshan." Yuan Nanchan bowed politely.

"Please stand up, sir." Li Xiang nodded and looked at Ding Xiaoer, "Go out and get twenty military sticks."

Upon hearing this, Ding Xiaoer walked out dejectedly.

Yuan Nanchan was also observing Li Xiang's expression and seeing that Li Xiang's anger did not seem fake at all, he felt happy again.

"This time I asked your envoy to come here mainly because I wanted to temporarily cease fire with you." Li Xiang pretended to be exhausted and performed just right.

"If you want to temporarily cease fire with us, the prince's sincerity may not be enough, right?" Yuan Nanchan pressed on step by step. He felt that he seemed to have discovered the truth: "If you want to cease fire, the prince should withdraw from Jian'an City and Jili City. This way, I can give an explanation to my father after I return."

"This..." Li Xiang looked at Yuan Nanchan hesitantly, and stammered to reject his request to give up the occupied land.

Finally, he added: "We need to negotiate with you for a few more times before we can come up with a result that satisfies both parties. It would be better for you to go back and discuss it with your father first."

"My limit is to withdraw from Jili City." He said gritting his teeth, as if he had made up his mind to cut off this piece of meat.

After hearing this, Yuan Nanjian understood even more.

"In that case, I will return to the army first and discuss with my father before making a decision!" Yuan Nanchan looked stern.

"Well, please go back first, your Excellency." Li Xiang said very politely.

After Yuan Nansheng left, Li Xiang immediately changed his expression. "He should believe it." Su Dingfang stepped out from the side and said with a smile.

"What's important is not whether he believes it or not, but whether Yeon Gaesomun dares to gamble." Li Xiang stretched out his fingers and tapped the table: "There are only more than 100,000 troops on the other side of the Yalu River, and there are still 100,000 troops who have not crossed the river."

He continued, "We have already formed a good battle formation and are waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out. If we take the initiative to attack, we may not be able to gain any advantage. It is better to lure the enemy to attack."

"Is this the reason why you deliberately let the cat out of the bag just now?" Lun Qinling asked suddenly.

"Yes." Li Xiang nodded with a smile: "Yeon Gaesomun will never dare to gamble. When my Aung leads the army here, his advantage will be gone. And he dare not retreat now. The only option left for him is to resolve the battle here as soon as possible and strive to defeat my army when the army arrives."

"I see." Lun Qinling suddenly realized.

At this moment, Ding Xiaoer also walked in from outside in high spirits.

"How was it, Prince?" Ding Xiaoer said with a smile, "My acting was OK, wasn't it?"

"You will definitely not be able to fool Yeon Gaesomun, but you may be able to fool that extremely frivolous person." Li Xiang smiled and affirmed Ding Xiaoer.

"But..." Pei Xingjian hesitated: "If the enemy attacks, how should we respond?"

Su Dingfang walked to the side of the map, pointed to a high ground on the map and said: "The Wugu River and the Yalu River divide the rear of the battlefield, forming a natural barrier; the triangle area between these three rivers is relatively flat in the north, and the terrain in the middle rises up to form a mound. Whoever occupies this mound will occupy a favorable position on the battlefield and can observe and control the vast area around it. I conclude that the core of this battle must be centered around this mound!"

"If we take the initiative to attack this mound, it will be an upward attack. The infantry will attack upwards, and climbing the slope will be much more laborious than walking on flat ground. If we wait for the enemy to tire themselves out, defend on the mound, and counterattack from above, then our army will have an easier time."

Li Xiang nodded in agreement: "What Lao Su said is exactly what I meant. This mound will indeed become the center of the fight."

"My suggestion is that since the enemy has decided to attack, we might as well expose a flaw to them and attract Yeon Gaesomun's main force to attack. When the main forces of the Goguryeo and Baekje coalition forces attack our 'weak point', our army will concentrate its main forces and counterattack in the middle, strangling his waist and making it impossible for him to take care of both the head and the tail!"

"After the battlefield is divided, it will be the beginning of our control over the entire battlefield."

"But at the same time, we must not let them easily break through this so-called weak point of ours. It must appear weak, but in fact it is a tough bone to chew." Li Xiang said again: "We must let them hold on to the main force of Goguryeo and prevent them from advancing an inch!"

"This mission is glorious and arduous." Li Xiang pondered for a moment, then raised his head and said, "I need a team that can fight hard and dare to fight. I wonder who among you has the confidence to lead it well?"

"Let me go!" Xue Rengui shouted loudly.

"I'll go!" Pei Xingjian was also arguing.

"Let me go!" Zhang Jinshu was not willing to be outdone.

Li Xiang stretched out his hand and pressed it downwards: "I know your loyalty and bravery, but I still need to ask the soldiers for their opinions. After you go down, tell them the truth. I need 2,000 soldiers who can fight hard battles. Remember, don't force, don't force, and don't induce. Do you understand?"

"Yes!" Everyone responded one after another.

When Yuan Nanchan returned to the army, his face was full of joy.

Seeing his expression, Yeon Gaesomun knew that he had heard some important news.

"Good news, father." Yuan Nanchan said immediately: "When my son was in the Tang army camp, he heard a very important piece of news!"

"Oh?" Yeon Gaesomun asked immediately, "Tell me quickly!"

"Guess what, father?" Yuan Nanchan said with a smile, "Li Xiang asked for peace with us because he wanted to wait for the Tang Dynasty emperor's army to arrive and surround our army, so he came up with the idea of ​​asking for peace to delay time!"

Hearing this, Yeon Gaesomun looked a little worried.

He was now afraid that Li Shimin would suddenly arrive with a large army. After all... a person's reputation is like the shadow of a tree. They didn't need to say what kind of person Li Shimin was.

The Koreans in later generations fantasized that Yeon Gaesomun could actually shoot Li Shimin with an arrow. They simply did not understand how great a humiliation it was for a heroic ruler like Li Shimin to be shot with an arrow.

If this were true, the entire Korean Peninsula, from Goguryeo to Silla, would have to have all the cockroaches dug out and their eggs cooked before they could be allowed to escape from this land.

Eggs have to be shaken to separate the yolks, and earthworms have to be split in half vertically.

Don't underestimate the revengeful mentality of a hero who kills his brothers and takes pleasure in it...

"The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty is still attacking Anshi City." Yuan Nanjian beside him suddenly said, "With Anshi City holding him back, does he still have the energy to support Li Xiang?"

"It's hard to say." Yuan Nanchan continued.

"In that case, we can't wait any longer!" Yeon Gaesomun said after a moment's silence: "Send a message to Wugut City, and launch an attack on the Tang army together tomorrow morning! We must completely wipe out Li Xiang's army before the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty comes to support us!"

"This...can we do this?" Gao Zang asked shiveringly on the side.

"In any case, the number of troops in the battle is 160,000 to 40,000, and the advantage is on my side!" Yeon Gaesomun's voice was sonorous and powerful, and his tone was firm.

Naturally, the news within the coalition forces could not be hidden from Li Xiang's eyes and ears.

Naturally, the message to Wugut City was also intercepted by him.

"Great, Yeon Gaesomun finally can't sit still anymore!" Pei Xingjian said with a smile.

"Yes, as long as he takes the initiative to attack, our army can take advantage of its rest and definitely inflict heavy damage on him!" Liu Rengui also said with a smile.

Li Xiang paced beside the map, his hands in his arms, his mind thinking rapidly.

"Have you done what I asked you to do just now?"

"My Lord, the soldiers are participating enthusiastically. General Su is currently selecting them and has already selected nearly a thousand people," Pei Xingjian replied.

Li Xiang nodded. After a while, he walked to the door of the tent, turned around and said, "Pei Shouyue!"

"Here!" Pei Xingjian heard it and immediately walked quickly to Li Xiang's side.

Li Xiang pointed and said, "Please remember this."

"Okay." Without saying a word, Pei Xingjian took out a small notebook and a special charcoal pencil from his arms.

Looking around at everyone in the tent, Li Xiang spoke in a steady voice.

"I will make the following deployment adjustments!"

(End of this chapter)