In the military camp outside Liaodong City, soldiers on the school ground were practicing, with uniform movements, shouting one after another, mixed with horns, which sounded very lively and made people feel excited.

The commander of the Goguryeo Army, Gao Jianwu, in the north, watched the soldiers practice in a corner of the school grounds. He had been watching here for nearly half an hour and was very satisfied with the performance of the soldiers.

These are the most elite soldiers, both in terms of skills and morale. Gao Jianwu feels that with these soldiers as the core backbone of the official army, they will have a lot of confidence in winning in battles.

It is late autumn now, and winter will soon begin. It will be snowing heavily, and it will be difficult for cars and horses to pass through. The coastal waters will still freeze and cannot sail. I think the enemy will retreat because it is difficult to transport food and grass.

Gao Jianwu thought so, told the generals around him a few words, turned around and headed towards the Central Army tent, where the leaders of various divisions of the Marine tribes had arrived one after another.

Gao Jianwu was the son of the former king and the younger brother of the current king Gao Yuan. He served as the northern part of Nossa (Nussa is an official name, which is like the governor of the Central Plains), and guarded Liaodong.

Now that the Zhou army has invaded, he has mobilized his troops and horses, and has also summoned troops from various departments of the Marine to participate in the war. Therefore, the leaders of various departments of the Marine who led their troops to help the war now obey his orders.

Although the Zhou army invaded many years in recent years, causing huge losses of personnel and materials to Goguryeo, the army convened by Gao Jianwu this time still had more than 100,000 people, including the Martialis soldiers who helped in the war.

At present, there are nearly 100,000 soldiers stationed in Liaodong City and surrounding areas who can pull out the field to fight.

However, from the beginning of spring to the present, the Zhou army has not made any substantial moves in Liaodong. Gao Jianwu has been preparing for war for more than half a year, consuming a lot of food and supplies in vain.

Even if the soldiers of the government army do not fight, they still have to consume food, so this is nothing. However, the soldiers and horses of various units of the Marine who went south to assist in the war have to bear the daily needs of the people and horses, so this is an additional expense.

The Liaodong region has not fought a major war for more than half a year. It can be said that the Martyr who helped the war has eaten and drunk for free here, which has become a huge burden.

Gao Jianwu stopped, looked at the camp tents that were rising and falling all around him, and sighed.

No matter how heavy the burden is, you have to hold on. Otherwise, if you lack troops, lose to the Zhou army and lose Liaodong city, it would be a bad idea.

A few days ago, a messenger from Pyongyang sent a large number of letters to Liaodong City. The other party traveled through mountains and rivers and took nearly two months to arrive here from Pyongyang, allowing Gao Jianwu to know the situation in the south.

The messenger was like this because the Zhou army controlled the Yalu Water Basin, so that the traffic between Goguryeo and the south was almost interrupted. Fortunately, the Zhou army could not fully control the mountainous areas, so the messenger took a mountain road and finally came to Liaodong after circling around.

The messenger brought Pyongyang's "latest" news to the general Goguryeo in Liaodong. Gao Jianwu learned from this that the Sashui army was defeated by the official army. He learned that due to the arrival of the rainy season, there were many storms on the sea, causing the Zhou navy to leave the skull, and the Zhou army's land troops had retreated to the Yalu River.

Although the Zhou army by Yalu Water showed no sign of retreat, it was at least a little far from Pyongyang.

At the same time, the Silla and Baekje troops, who were ready to move, did not dare to take advantage of the situation to rob.

God blesses the war to delay the beginning of winter, and I think the days ahead of Pyongyang will be easier.

However, the Zhou army, which was entrenched by the Yalu Water, was not idle. Although the attack to the south stopped, the attack to the north did not stop.

There are mountains stretching thousands of miles between Liaodong and Yalu River, and the mountain cities of Goguryeo are distributed in each important place. The residents in the city are all soldiers and their families. They fish and hunt or open up land on weekdays, making the mountain city shaped like towns, and the lord of the city is a powerful man.

Such mountain cities form the basis of Goguryeo's rule. They pay taxes on weekdays and send troops to fight with the army during wars. Once the enemy invades, these mountain cities become solid fortresses, effectively blocking the enemy's attack.

Now, the Zhou army entrenched in Yalu River has divided its troops to attack various mountain cities on a large scale. More than half of the mountain cities near the Yalu River have changed hands. Perhaps Pyongyang is not clear about this, but Gao Jianwu has received urgent reports one after another, so he is anxious.

In order to defend Liaodong, he mobilized a large army to prepare for battle. As a result, more than 100,000 people waited for half a year in vain. He had never fought a decent battle, but instead caught fire in the "backyard".

For Liaodong, the mountains on the east side are the backyard. Gao Jianwu made the worst plan. He decided in advance that if Liaodong could not be defended, he would lead his troops to retreat east and retreat to the mountains to wait for an opportunity to recover Liaodong.

Now, the "front yard" in Liaodong is fine, but the "back yard" is in danger. Gao Jianwu dared not imagine how the Liaodong official army, who was attacked from both sides, would deal with it when the Zhou army crossed the mountains from the east.

According to various urgent reports, Gao Jianwu knew that the Zhou army used a powerful weapon this year. This weapon was very sharp to attack the mountain city. The city lords who had been confident of holding on for several months basically could not survive the mountain city facing the Zhou army.

The opponent attacked the city as easily as eating melons. With the fall of a large number of mountain cities, the situation of the Liaodong official army began to become difficult. Although it had more than 100,000 troops, it did not dare to easily divide its troops to advance eastward to rescue, because the Zhou army was also eyeing it on the west coast of the Liao River.

This time, the opponent was not suspicious soldiers, but actually tens of thousands of troops, most of which were cavalry.

Thinking of this, Gao Jianwu had a headache. Zhou State had previously attacked with suspicious troops, which restricted his more than 100,000 troops. Over the past six months, more than 100,000 troops have not been used in vain except for consuming food and supplies.

Thinking about it now, it seems that it shouldn't have gathered various cavalry in the Marine tribes so early, but Gao Jianwu felt that if he had not summoned the army at the beginning of the year, he might have attacked directly by Zhou's suspicious soldiers. Now the flag of Zhou is flying at the top of Liaodong city.

After all, the national strength is still too different. Zhou State has been harassing many years, resulting in significant casualties between the Liaodong official troops. In addition, farmland has failed on a large scale for many years, so the consumption of national strength is very large.

In addition, a major plague that broke out in the past few years, countless military and civilians died from the plague, and the population loss will take at least more than ten years to make up, and the Zhou State did not give them such a respite.

Therefore, Gao Jianwu, who tried his best to gather more than 100,000 troops, had already done his best, but he was powerless to attack the Zhou army, who was divided into troops and attacking. He had no time to take care of him except to defend Liaodong.

He thought as he walked, frowned, and saw the Central Army tent in front of him, forcing himself to hide his worries, stretch his eyebrows, and walk into the tent.

In the tent, when the leaders of various divisions of the Marine tribes saw Gao Jianwu coming in, they stood up to salute. After some greetings, Gao Jianwu sat down on the head and began to discuss military affairs.

Yesterday, news came that a large number of Zhou troops appeared in northern Liaoning, attacking the Marine tribe, burning, killing and looting, which made many Marine leaders who went south to assist in the war very anxious because the area attacked by the Zhou army was their territory.

Not only the leaders were anxious, but also the ordinary soldiers were anxious, because this time they went south to help in the war, most of their families (mainly the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled) stayed in their hometowns, with only a few soldiers guarding them.

These left-behind personnel will not be a problem to deal with sporadic harassment, but if they encounter the Zhou army, they will probably have many dangers.

Therefore, the Marines who went south to assist in the war hoped to return to the army to rescue. In order to prevent them from defeating the Zhou army, they hoped that the official army (Goguryeo Army) could send troops to accompany them and support them.

This requirement is very legitimate, because many Marine tribes surrendered to Goguryeo, paid tribute, and sent troops to assist in the war. Now, it is time for Goguryeo, who is the sect leader, to send troops to protect them.

Of course, Gao Jianwu could not ignore the requests of the leaders of various tribes of the Marine tribe. He knew that if his side did not handle it properly, it would make the Marine tribe, who was originally interested in Goguryeo, become disinterested and then turn to the Zhou Kingdom.

If this is the case, in the future, the number of Martial tribes who are willing to send troops to assist in the war will be fewer and fewer than that of the Zhou Kingdom.

However, the Zhou army acted like this to attract our troops to go north, and then the other party ambushed somewhere halfway.

In other words, when the Zhou army attacked northern Liao, it was clearly necessary to set up a trap for them to get into it.

For Gao Jianwu, this trap is right in front of him. If he does not send troops to the north, he will be disappointed to the hearts of all troops participating in the battle against the Marine tribes. If he sends troops, he will encounter a confinement if he is not careful and suffers heavy casualties.

But no matter what, they always have to send troops, so after discussing with several major generals, Gao Jianwu decided to take a plan.

In front of all the leaders of the Marine, Gao Jianwu said that he had decided to send 40,000 troops and follow the coalition forces of various departments of the Marine to drive northward to expel the Zhou army that was raiding northern Liao. The army set out in three days, so he hoped that the leaders of the various departments would be prepared to go to the expedition.

The army went to the expedition and ordered the orders were prohibited. Gao Jianwu emphasized that since the date of expedition was set, no one was allowed to delay it.

If there is any violation, engage in military law.

Hearing the noble northern Nossa made the decision, the leaders were happy and said that they would be ready immediately after returning today and would never miss the date.

Looking at the smiling faces, Gao Jianwu remained silent, but he sneered in his heart.

There were also a Martial tribe who defected to Zhou State, so Gao Jianwu judged that among the Martial leaders sitting in the tent today, someone must have secretly colluded with the Zhou army, and spread news to the other party at both ends of the head and rat.
Chapter completed!