In the early morning of July 25, in the darkness, Yizhi Wende commanded the main army of Goguryeo to cross the Sashui River, trying to occupy the Yalu Water Pass before the Middle-Turkish army and wiped the Middle-Turkish army east of the Yalu Water.

Gao Yuan commanded the rest of the troops to continue to siege and kill the Middle-Turkish army trapped in the flood on the east bank of the Sashui River. At this moment, the Middle-Turkish army on the east bank of the Sashui River had suffered heavy casualties and was defeated. Even if the Middle-Turkish soldiers who escaped from the flood did not surrender and fought to the end, they had no food and could not support them, and could only be slaughtered by the enemy.

In the early morning of the 25th, Cui Hongsheng's troops went all out, using all their tools to cross the river, crossing the river to save people regardless of life and death.

On the east bank of Sashui, it was able to escape from the flood in the disaster last night and was not killed by the Goguryeo people. They must not be in chaos and work together to form a group. Those with such qualities are elite soldiers and powerful generals, all commanders of the various military personnel, some senior officers who have experienced many battles, as well as their personal soldiers and generals. The result is obvious that their self-rescue played an important role in the juncture of life and death, and they were all rescued and left by the first batch.

However, this successful rescue ended before it lasted until noon because the Goguryeo people came on a boat. These ships were secretly stored somewhere upstream. After they sent the main army of Goguryeo to the west bank of the Sashui River, they were immediately requisitioned by Gao Yuan, carrying thousands of crossbowmen down the water, completely cutting off the escape route of the Middle-Turkish army trapped on the east bank of the Sashui River.

On the west bank of the Sashui River, Yuwen Shu's tribe fought bloody battles with the Goguryeo people again after dawn.

The Goguryeo people tried their best to intercept the Middle-earth people, delaying the retreat speed of the Middle-earth people, giving their main army a crossing the river to carry out encirclement and annihilation to win more time. The Middle-earth people had only one purpose, to fight for a bloody path and escape back.

In the morning, Yu Zhongwen's troops joined the battlefield. The Goguryeo people could not resist and retreated step by step. At this moment, Yizhi Wende rushed over with a part of the main army of Goguryeo. The two sides fought each other in close combat, fighting to the death, killing the flesh and blood.

Yu Zhongwen urgently told Cui Hongsheng, stopped asking for help, and retreated immediately to avoid being surrounded by the Goguryeo people.

Before noon, Cui Hongsheng ordered to discard all the baggage and evacuate quickly. All the soldiers, craftsmen and civilians were light and simple, carrying the wounded and running wildly.

When Cui Hongsheng's troops left the battlefield, Yu Zhongwen led the front-line commander and his troops to evacuate, while Yu Wen Shu took on the heavy responsibility of cutting off the rear and tried hard to stop the killing at any cost.

Yizhi Wende had no intention of fighting with Yuwen Shu, and took the initiative to withdraw from the battle, leaving a group of people to follow and chase, and the main army ran towards Yalushui. As long as they occupied the Yalushui passage and cut off the retreat of the Middle-earth people, the Goguryeo people were sure to win. As long as they surrounded the Middle-earth people, trapped the Middle-earth people and starved the Middle-earth people to death, the Middle-earth people would be completely finished.

The Sashui River is nearly 400 miles away from the Yalu River, and it takes three or four days to march normally. However, in order to escape, the Middle-earth people had to squeeze out their physical potential and run day and night. Similarly, in order to wipe out the Middle-earth army, to destroy the Middle-earth expedition, to maintain their hegemony in the Far East, and to survive and develop Goguryeo, they had to do their best to run day and night.

On July 25, Liaodong Base Camp.

The Holy Lord ordered Yu Zhongwen, Yu Wen Shu and Liu Shilong to withdraw their troops.

On the 22nd, the Holy Lord and the Central Master received a report from Cui Hongsheng, and the news in the report gave them a heavy blow.

The navy was defeated, and Lai Huer and Zhou Fashang were defeated at the city of Pyongyang, with nearly 40,000 navy soldiers buried their bones in foreign lands.

The number of casualties is too great. Since the reunification of China-Turkish army, whether it is internally suppressing rebellions or externally conquering, it has never suffered such great casualties in a battle. For the military, this is an unbearable burden, for China-Turkish, it is a great shame, and for the Holy Lord and the Central Committee, it is a heavy blow to its own authority. The military failure caused by this is secondary. What is important is that the political crisis broke out, and a political storm that swept China-Turkish was enough to affect the stability of the country and the future of China-Turkish.

This is the situation that the Holy Lord and the Central Committee are most unwilling to see and the most unwilling to accept, but the fact is that they are so ruthless, and fate is so cruel. The situation that they are most unwilling to see is still seen, and the result that they are most unwilling to accept is still the result.

The Holy Lord and the Central Committee were very confident, especially the victory of Tuyuhun in the Western Expedition made their confidence over-inflated. So they launched the Eastern Expedition with a good expectation for the future. However, today's facts gave them a head-on blow, and their over-inflated confidence suddenly collapsed. This sudden collapse, the huge contrast between this cruel fact and the beautiful expectation, made them unacceptable, and their psychology collapsed in an instant, and their dreams and ideas headed towards irresistible self-destruction.

The Holy Lord turned white overnight, while the central officials were overwhelmed by various complex emotions such as anger, sadness, panic, regret, loss, depression, confusion, and confusion.

Na Yan Su Wei, the chief and deputy chief of Menxia Province, and Pei Shiju, the Huangmen Minister, were old and experienced, and had a long experience. After being tempered by countless strong winds and waves, they quickly calmed down from the initial shock. What had happened was irreversible, and what had not happened could be saved. Next, they had to face reality, come up with countermeasures, minimize the bad impact caused by the failure of the Eastern Expedition, and do their best to alleviate the various complex and unpredictable bad consequences brought about by this.

First of all, why did this news come from Cui Hongsheng, not from the front-line command? Why did Cui Hongsheng report to the top? Why didn’t the front-line command report to the first time?

It is obvious that the navy's advance attack on Pyongyang exposed the "political conspiracy" of the Holy Lord and the Central Committee. Although the Holy Lord secretly issued the matter of the Navy's secret decree, and after the navy's defeat in Pyongyang, it is estimated that this secret would be even more sank to the sea, but even if the Holy Lord and the Central Committee would never admit that there was a so-called "political conspiracy", Lai Hu'er and other naval commanders even denied that there was a secret decree of the Holy Lord. However, the eyes of the powerful and powerful are all sharp. If you don't admit it, it does not mean that the facts do not exist. Since you only cover the sky with your hands, ignore the laws of the Heavenly Constitution, the Twelve Guards, and the 300,000 expedition soldiers, what is the attitude of the military and the attitude of the front-line commander, you can imagine.

The military was angry, and the front-line commanders were angry. Even if the front-line commander still followed the orders of the Holy Lord and the Central Committee to attack Pyongyang, facing the failure of the strategy of land and land attack, the serious shortage of food and supplies, the shortage of attack time, and the anger of the front-line commanders, the battle in Pyongyang cannot be continued. To prevent accidents, the only way to withdraw troops is to withdraw earlier. It is better and safer to withdraw troops earlier than to withdraw troops later. Therefore, when internal conflicts broke out, the first priority of the commander of the Wei-line commander was to stabilize the morale of the army, seek common ground while reserving differences, make decisions, and then report to the Holy Lord and the Central Committee again, in fact, it is to take action first and then report. You framed me first and put me in a desperate situation. I have no choice but to exercise the right to deal with the situation, take action first and report, and protect the army first. Let's count the rest.

Cui Hongsheng obviously expected all this. He happened to be in Sashui, far from the Pyongyang battlefield, and gave him the convenience of reporting over the level and warning the Holy Lord and the Central Committee. But can this prove that he is loyal to the Holy Lord? Can it prove that he is in order to let the Holy Lord and the Central Committee take the initiative and come up with countermeasures as soon as possible to avoid a head-on conflict with the military? Can it prove that he is a timely helper rather than a detriment?

According to comprehensive analysis, Cui Hongsheng's move is probably for self-rescue. Cui Hongsheng discovered a river-blocking dam of the Goguryeo people somewhere upstream of the Sa River, which seriously endangered the safety of the retreat route of the Expeditionary Force. Once the Sahui passage was cut off, Cui Hongsheng, who was guarding the Sahui River, was directly responsible, but he could not bear the responsibility, so he directly reported to the Saint Lord and the Central Committee and asked for help. The purpose was very simple, to shirk the responsibility and let the Saint Lord and the Central Committee bear the responsibility.

After urgent consultations between the Holy Lord and the central officials, they made a decisive decision to stabilize the front line at Yalu Water. This is actually the "two-step" strategy proposed by the military before. This year, the front line will be stabilized in Yalu Water, and next year, they will attack Pyongyang from Yalu Water.

The Holy Lord ordered that the General of the Right Wu Guard, Li Jing, led the troops of the headquarters, the Shaofu Supervisor, and the General of the Right Tun Guard, He Chou led 10,000 crossbowmen in the Imperial Camp, as well as several officials from the Ministry of Works, thousands of craftsmen and a large number of bridge-building equipment and materials, set off overnight, traveling day and night to Yalu Water, build bridges on Yalu Water and stick to the Yalu Water Channel. If there is enough time, He Chou will lead the army to support the Sashui River, help Cui Hongsheng to defend the Sashui Channel, and respond to the retreat of the expeditionary army.

In the early morning of the 23rd, General Li Jing of the Right Martial Guard and Shaofu Supervisor, He Chou, General He led his army to the Yalu River.

At the same time, in the palace, the Holy Lord and the Central Officials had fierce disputes in dealing with the crisis caused by the failure of the Eastern Expedition.

The first thing is whether the Eastern Expedition will continue? Will it last until next year? Should it end decisively?

This Eastern Expedition failed to achieve the goal of deterring the northern enemy. If the Eastern Expedition ended, the Northern Frontier and even the entire western and northern frontiers of Central China will have a garrison crisis. The outbreak of the garrison crisis will force Central China to increase the garrison power of the border. The huge continuous investment of manpower, material and financial resources will not only continue to weaken the national strength, but will also seriously hinder the progress of reform. In addition, the political crisis brought to the Holy Lord and the Central Committee due to the failure of the Eastern Expedition, the reform forces in the Eastern Capital will inevitably fall into the dilemma of being attacked from both sides, and the conservative forces will take advantage of the momentum to pursue the Holy Lord and the reformists relentlessly. It can be foreseeable that under such a bad political situation, the existing reform achievements will inevitably be gone, and reform will inevitably fall into stagnation and regression.

The motion to end the Eastern Expedition was quickly rejected. The Holy Lord and the Central Committee agreed that the Eastern Expedition must continue. From now on, while hoarding food and supplies in Liaodong, the occupied areas west of Yalu River were consolidated, and preparing for the attack on Pyongyang after the beginning of next spring.

On the 24th, the report from the Front Command was delivered to the palace.

The defeat of the navy led to the failure of the strategy of land and land attack. The Expeditionary Force was unable to capture Pyongyang with limited food and grass weapons in a limited time. Therefore, the commander-in-chief discussed and decided to deter Pyongyang with force and forced Pyongyang to sign a alliance under the city. This strategy could be completed within a limited time, but if Pyongyang was tough and deliberately delayed the time, the Expeditionary Force could only evacuate the Pyongyang battlefield on the 24th due to insufficient food and grass.

The commander suggested that the Holy Lord and the Central Committee should consider the actual situation of the Eastern Expedition battlefield, and should implement the "two-step" strategy proposed by the military before to stabilize the front line at Yalu Water. However, the premise for implementing this strategy is that the Liaodong Base Camp must send enough food, grass and supplies needed by the Expedition Army to the west coast of Yalu Water at the fastest speed. Otherwise, the Expedition Army would not be able to gain a foothold in Yalu Water at all, let alone stabilize the front line, and could only withdraw to Liaodong helplessly. In this way, this year's Eastern Expedition was nothing. Middle-earth paid staggering manpower, material resources and financial resources for the Eastern Expedition, but in the end, they had nothing to gain. They were beaten to the Goguryeo people to lose their armor and lose their troops. Although the Expedition Army had no face, the Holy Lord and the Central Committee would also greatly damage their authority. This is something that no one wants to see or accept.

At this point, the military's attitude has become clear.

The military has a tough attitude and wants to implement the "two-step" strategy they proposed before. That is to say, in order to save face, the military must continue the Eastern Expedition. From this point of view, the military, the Holy Lord and the Central Committee still have common interests. Therefore, the military did not seize the navy's attack on Pyongyang in advance without authorization, nor did they blame the Holy Lord and the Central Committee in anger because of this matter, and deliberately made the conflicts between the two sides open. The two sides can still maintain cooperation. However, the premise of cooperation is that the Holy Lord and the Central Committee must return the military power they forcibly robbed to the military. The power that should be controlled by the military is the military. The Holy Lord and the Central Committee cannot unlimited centralization for the sake of centralization, or even unscrupulously over the national laws of the Tianxian Constitution for the sake of centralization. This is extreme, from one extreme to the other. This extreme practice will surely harm the country, the army, oneself and others, and endless harm.

The Holy Lord and the Central Committee collectively lost their voices, were in a very bad mood, and were extremely complicated. There was no way. Since some things have been done, it would be the same if they were not denying them. Everyone had a calculation in their minds. As the failure side, the Holy Lord and the Central Committee could only knock down their teeth and blood to swallow them. If they couldn't bear it, they had to endure it, and even if they pinched their noses, they had to admit it.

In fact, the most disadvantage was the military. After suffering a silence, they had to bear the military responsibility for the failure of the Eastern Expedition. Although the Holy Lord and the Central Committee successfully escaped the responsibility for the failure of the military, they could not escape the consequences of the political failure. For this reason, they had to return to Dongdu immediately to deal with the impending political crisis.

On the 25th, the Holy Lord ordered the Front Command of the Expeditionary Force to agree to their decision, order them to evacuate the Pyongyang battlefield and stabilize the front line at Yalu Water.
Chapter completed!