The failure of consecutive sieges caused heavy losses to 70,000 Khitan soldiers. The unfavorable situation seriously affected the morale of the Khitan army. The excitement of initially looting Liaodong to make a fortune was gone. The soldiers began to miss their families and were war-weary.

Like the Turks, the Khitans are soldiers of the whole people, and there are only a very small number of professional soldiers. Although this method of using soldiers to the whole people can solve the problem of insufficient troops due to a small population, the weakness is also obvious. The soldiers themselves are herdsmen and their morale is very unstable. If they win all the way, their morale will be high, but once they encounter setbacks, their morale will quickly decline.

Therefore, the tactics of the grassland cavalry pay attention to charging into battle in one go. If the charge is not good, immediately use the advantage of high maneuverability to retreat quickly to avoid morale falling and resulting in defeat.

But the Khitans committed the taboo of this grassland army. They gave up their superior cavalry and used the siege tactics that they were not good at. In addition, they suffered too many failures and suffered heavy casualties. The barracks complained and cursed Dahe Duluo's stupid decision.

Sun Aocao and several soldiers came to the Xi people's camp. They saw Xi people's soldiers packing their belongings and seemed to be preparing to retreat. Sun Aocao came to the main tent and happened to meet the Xi people's chief Su Zhi. Sun Aocao smiled and said, "Does the chief want to leave?"

Su Zhi looked at him vigilantly and said coldly: "I led 20,000 Xi soldiers to fight together, and now there are only 6,000 left. General Sun thinks I still need to stay there?"

Sun Aocao smiled, "I'm not surprised at all, the chief is leaving. I feel it's hard to understand if the chief doesn't leave."

When Su Zhi heard that he was not here to stop him, his face immediately calmed down a lot, and waved his hand and said, "Get into the account and sit down!"

The two walked into the tent and sat down. Su Zhi poured him a bowl of milk tea and sighed, "This time he went to Liaodong, I heard that it was Yuan Taizuo who invited the Khitan to attack the Sui Dynasty, but when he attacked the city, he could not see the figure of the Goguryeo. I felt that the Khan had fallen into Yuan Taizuo's plan. We worked hard for Goguryeo and made wedding dresses for Goguryeo for nothing."

"Does the Chief really think so?"

Su Qi nodded, "I think it's obvious that we have lost troops and cut off our generals and greatly weakened the defense of Liucheng. When we withdraw, the Goguryeo people can easily occupy Liaodong. Isn't this a wedding dress for them?"

Sun Aocao took a sip of milk tea and said calmly: "This is indeed a plan by the Goguryeo people, but I believe Khan has seen through Yuan Taizuo's intentions long ago."

"General Sun said, does Khan want to use his tricks and take the opportunity to monopolize Liaodong?"

Sun Aocao still shook his head, "The Chief was only half right. I think Khan used this war to weaken his opponent."

Su Zhi's face changed, "How do you say this?"

"The army of 70,000 is 20,000 people in Khan's direct tribe, 15,000 people in Anlu's tribe, and my tribe is also 15,000 people in Xi's tribe, plus 5,000 people in Gao Kaidao, now the Xi tribe has lost 70%, and Anlu and I have lost nearly half of it, but Khan's army has not lost at all. Of course, his son died, but that was just an accident. No matter what, no one can fight against him again this autumn."

Su Zhi was speechless. He understood what Sun Aocao meant. The Khitans chose Khan every three years, and they will be elected again this fall. The Khitan tribes regard strength as the king. Among the eight Khitan tribes, the Dahe tribe was the strongest, accounting for 70% of the Khitan population, so the Khitan Khan has been born in the Dahe tribe.

But there are also many hills in the Oga tribe. Oga Duluo is the strongest, followed by Sun Aocao and Anlu. The battle between Khan this fall started between the three of them. Now both Sun Aocao and Anlu have suffered heavy losses, while Oga Duluo's army is unscathed.

Su Zhi smiled bitterly and shook his head, "If this is the case, Khan's scheming is too deep."

"He has always been very scheming, otherwise how could he withdraw his troops when Anlu and I were about to break the city?"

"What will General Sun do?"

Sun Aocao pondered for a moment and said, "Anlu and I have decided to withdraw our troops. I originally wanted to persuade the chief to withdraw our troops with us, but the chief himself is going to withdraw his troops, so I won't say anything."

Su Zhi thought for a while and asked, "When are you planning to withdraw your troops?"

“Tonight!”

Su Qi nodded, "Okay then! I'll wait a little longer, and the three of us will withdraw our troops together."

That night, Sun Aocao, Anlu and Suzhi led their troops to leave the camp and return north at the same time, leaving only 20,000 Dahe Duluo's troops left in the Khitan army. This news made Dahe Duluo very panicked. He also knew that it was impossible to conquer Liucheng with his 20,000 troops alone. When dawn was approaching, Dahe Duluo also led 20,000 troops to set off and slowly retreat northward. After eight days of bloody battle, the Khitan army was unable to conquer Liucheng and had to retreat northward and retreat to Songmo Prefecture.

As the sky gradually became bright, the bell suddenly sounded on the top of Liucheng City, "Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!" The harsh bell sounded throughout the city. The soldiers of the Sui army and militia who were sleeping were awakened one after another, and they picked up their weapons and ran towards the top of the city. Yang Shanhui and Li Chun also hurried to the top of the city.

A soldier came forward to report: "Report to the prefect, the Khitan army camp has disappeared."

Yang Shanhui was stunned. He quickly walked to the battlement and leaned out to look out. He saw that the Khitan camp several miles away had disappeared, leaving only a bunch of ragged siege weapons that failed to be used and several undemolished tents.

The city was very quiet, and the soldiers could not accept the sudden victory. They looked at each other, and everyone had the same question on their faces. Has the Khitan army really retreated?

Although Yang Shanhui knew that the retreat of the Khitan army should be true, there was no definite evidence, and he must not be careless. Yang Shanhui immediately sent a scout to inquire about the news. After a moment, the suspension bridge slowly lowered, the city gate opened, and a hundred cavalry divided into ten teams and rushed in all directions.

Until the evening, the scouts finally heard news that the Khitan army had indeed retreated northward, and the whole city of Liu was boiling, and cheers resounded throughout the city. The soldiers hugged each other with excitement, and tears flowed all over everyone's face. They paid a heavy price of more than half of the casualties and finally won the victory of defending the city. How could they not be happy and how could they not cry with joy?

Even the always mean prefect Yang Shanyi finally expressed his compassion, took out nearly half of the refrigerated mutton, and held a barbecue banquet that allowed the whole city's military and civilians to share victory.

After the celebration and the banquet, the whole city became quiet again. Except for a thousand patrol soldiers, all the soldiers and civilians fell into a deep sleep. The eight consecutive days of hard fighting made them exhausted and their spirits were greatly tortured. When the enemy retreated, everyone completely relaxed and entered a deep and sound sleep.

At the first update, several cavalry rushed from the south, and soon rushed to the south city, shouting to the cavalry: "Is there anyone on the city?"

The defenders on the city had already discovered them, and more than a hundred people were placing bows and arrows, and they were very nervous. At this time, a brigade coach leaned his head and asked, "Who are you?"

He raised an arrow for the cavalry, "We came from Youzhou and came to deliver a letter to Prefect Yang under the order of the general. Please open the city gate as soon as possible!"

A soldier ran to report to Yang Shanhui. Yang Shanhui was also worried that something would happen to the night. Although he was exhausted, he did not dare to fall asleep. He kept patrolling everywhere in the city. After receiving the report, Yang Shanhui hurried to the city.

He looked at the cavalry below for a moment and asked loudly, "Did the wolf come from the north?"

"He came from the east." The personal soldiers below replied.

The command was completely correct, and Yang Shanhui immediately ordered: "Open the city gate and let them in."

The city gate opened and three cavalrymen rushed into the city gate. Yang Shanhui walked down from the corridor and asked, "Where is the letter?"

The cavalry turned over and dismounted and presented a message to Yang Shanhui, "It was the commander-in-law's handwritten letter!"

Yang Shanhui took the message and asked, "Where is Your Highness at the moment?"

"Here is leading troops stationed in Beiping County."

Yang Shanhui was overjoyed and quickly pulled out the letter from the message. It was indeed a handwritten letter from King Zhang Xuan of Qi. He opened the letter and read it. In the letter, Zhang Xuan said that 10,000 troops had already gone north to Liucheng to support them, let them rectify their defenses, and continue to defend Liucheng. Once the Goguryeo army entered Liaodong, the Sui army would launch a large-scale counterattack. The letter also praised the bravery and tenacity of the Liucheng defenders and would give all soldiers a heavy reward.
Chapter completed!