The Villain's Counterattack

Chapter 504: Building a Jingguan Outside Pyongyang

The Goguryeo Grandmaster, Master Yijian Fu Cailin, with the support of tens of thousands of cavalrymen, attacked the emperor's tent and approached the Sui Emperor Yang Guang within a hundred meters. They first broke the defense line of the Sui cavalry, archers, sword and shield soldiers, and then broke the Tiangang Big Dipper Sword Formation set up by four grandmasters and three half-step grandmasters. Finally, they arrived not far in front of the Sui Emperor, but were forced to retreat by the Yingui Sect's Zhu Yuyan and the other four grandmasters.

Before he retreated, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty took the initiative to retreat and avoid Fu Cailin, so as not to leave a bad reputation. In the end, he left with thousands of troops and achieved the reputation of a grandmaster.

Half a month later, the bad news suddenly came. Fu Cailin assassinated the navy chief Lai Huer. When Lai Huer was seriously injured, the navy suffered heavy losses from a surprise attack by the Baekje navy and had to hold on. Fu Cailin returned to Pyongyang City, and the morale of the Goguryeo army was stabilized and boosted.

With the support of Yang Guang, Yuwen Shu and others resolved the food crisis. The 300,000-strong army besieged Pyongyang and attacked it day and night. The King of Goguryeo repeatedly sent people to surrender, but never took the initiative to stand up, let alone meet Yang Guang. His intention to feign surrender was obvious at a glance. However, Pyongyang was high and had abundant food, and there were hundreds of thousands of Goguryeo troops, making its defense impregnable.

The Sui army was shouting and cursing outside the city, but the Goguryeo soldiers just stayed in Pyongyang. Half a month later, the Yijian master Fu Cailin suddenly appeared on the city wall, killed the Sui army's first general, and repelled the Sui army's attack. For a while, the two sides were in a stalemate and trapped each other.

As time went by and the weather got colder, the King of Goguryeo once again sent envoys to pretend to surrender. Seeing that his soldiers were tired and the autumn weather was cold, they could not fight anymore. Pyongyang was also difficult to attack. The sword master Fu Cailin was threatening, so Yuwen Shu went along with the trick and agreed to return.

When the army set out, the King of Goryeo suddenly felt that he was on his feet again, and immediately sent troops to pursue. The Sui army was constantly attacked from all sides by the Goguryeo army along the way. Yuwen Shu, Yu Zhongwen and others immediately fought back. The 300,000-strong army turned around and launched a surprise attack, killing tens of thousands of Goguryeo soldiers. The King of Goryeo was so scared that he stayed indoors.

Yuwen Shu led tens of thousands of cavalrymen to show off their might in Pyongyang City, beheaded Goguryeo soldiers and built a Jingguan at the gate of Pyongyang. The people of Goguryeo were terrified and dared not go out. Yuwen Shu then left. At this time, the other armies had already gone far away. It was too late for the Goguryeo leaders to know the truth, and the Sui Dynasty soldiers retreated calmly.

The extreme cold in Goguryeo in winter was incomparable to that in the Central Plains. Yuwen Shu's 300,000 troops retreated in an orderly manner, not forgetting to sweep away the remaining Goguryeo troops and capture slaves along the way. They were not able to find peace until they crossed the Yalu River. At this time, the area between the Yalu River and the Liao River was completely controlled by the Sui Dynasty. The Goguryeo cities fell, the military power was gone, and the people became slaves.

Yang Guang was helpless after learning the truth about Pyongyang. It was really a shameless method to gather the whole country's strength to besiege a city. What's more, there was a grandmaster in charge. Even if a million troops were gathered, they could not take it down in a short time. Once winter came, how many soldiers of the Sui Dynasty would be left without winter clothes and not used to the severe cold in the north?

However, under the guidance of Yang Xuyan, Yuwen Shu launched a surprise attack during the retreat, causing Goguryeo to suffer a great loss. They no longer dared to chase the Sui army at will, and were much more cautious when recovering the lost territory. As a result, the Liaodong area is still in the hands of the Sui Dynasty.

However, winter was approaching and the army had to retreat temporarily. Although Yang Xuyan secretly helped and the million-strong army did not suffer a major defeat, it still suffered heavy casualties. At least 30% of the million-strong army was lost, and the two million civilians lost even more. It was hard to say whether they were killed or missing.

Yang Guang had no choice but to retreat, but before doing so he played another trick. Following the example of Yang Xuyan, he handed over many cities in Liaodong that originally belonged to Goguryeo to the meritorious ministers, and then he returned to Luoyang with his army.

However, this incident caused great hardship to many of the noble families who were granted titles. Was this a reward or a punishment? Or was it a conspiracy?

No, perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that it was an open conspiracy. Those who were granted titles were all from aristocratic families. They had great influence and powerful strength. They were originally the targets that Yang Guang needed to eliminate during his expedition to Goguryeo. It was only because Yang Xuyan came up with a military chess simulation that their losses were much smaller. In order to avoid defeat, Yang Guang had no choice but to accept the suggestion. If these aristocratic families were eliminated, it would most likely lead to a great defeat in this expedition, which was not what Yang Guang wanted to see.

He wanted to weaken the aristocratic families of the Sui Dynasty and to conquer Goguryeo, but his hesitation led to the result that he could not have both. However, his move of putting the aristocratic families and Goguryeo in the same cage and jumping out of the game himself was also very clever.

This expedition to Goguryeo resulted in heavy losses. The loss of property and civilians was one aspect, and the loss of a large amount of territory was also unacceptable. Now that Yang Guang has retreated, although the aristocratic families left behind have intercepted some soldiers and civilians, it is not enough to deter Goguryeo. They will definitely want to reclaim the territory, and then they will inevitably have to fight with the aristocratic families.

The aristocratic families have always attached great importance to land. Yang Guang gave them an opportunity. If they wanted to swallow up the land, they would have to compete with Goguryeo. If they gave up, they would be suspected of losing land, and Yang Guang would seize the opportunity to attack them.

Even if Yang Guang did not take the opportunity to take action, it would not be good to be known as losing territory.

Yuwen Shu and his men led the land forces in retreat. Having suffered this loss, Goguryeo hesitated to pursue, fearing a repeat of their past mistakes, and instead turned its attention to the Lai Huer navy. The naval commander, Lai Huer, was still seriously injured, and the deputy commander, Zhou Fashang, fought the Baekje navy several times without losing. However, seeing the land forces retreat and the Goguryeo army advancing, they were forced to retreat.

On the way back, they had an entanglement with the Baekje navy. With the help of mysterious pirates, they broke the blockade of the Baekje navy and retreated calmly. The Baekje navy was defeated and fled in panic. The mysterious pirates took advantage of the situation to plunder and returned with a full load.

In the Liaodong City Lord's Mansion, Pei Ju (Shi Zhixuan) and Yang Xuyan sat opposite each other. Although Yang Guang left, Pei Ju (Shi Zhixuan) stayed. This was the benefit Yang Xuyan had fought for, and it was also the reward he got in exchange for intercepting the Yijian master Fu Cailin with the Tiangang Big Dipper Sword Formation.

"Master Shi can't kill the Goguryeo Grandmaster?" Yang Xuyan had some understanding of Fu Cailin's strength, but he was unsure about Shi Zhixuan. Logically speaking, Shi Zhixuan should be at his peak at the moment. Well, second only to the Evil King who turned evil after absorbing the Evil Emperor's relics in the original work. After all, it is not unreasonable that the evil one is twice as strong when he turns evil and three points weaker when he turns white.

Before marriage, Shi Zhixuan, who had no taboos, could come and go easily from Ning Daoqi's hands. However, after marriage, Shi Zhixuan, who had some constraints, was injured by Ning Daoqi. This is the final proof. However, Shi Zhixuan is not an ordinary person. He turned around and found a way to improve himself and proved his truth in the right way again, assisting Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty to build his career. This time, he intercepted the master Shi Cailin alone and escaped unscathed, which is enough to prove that his strength has recovered, and even made a considerable improvement.

Shi Zhixuan glanced at him and said, "What do you think a Grandmaster is? Can you kill him just because you want to? If it weren't for the favorable timing, location, and people, and the massive army surrounding him, forcing him to fight several Grandmasters, severely depleting his Qi, and his old age and physical weakness, how could I have escaped unscathed? Even so, if you want to kill a Grandmaster, you must be prepared to be dragged down with him. A trapped beast is extremely dangerous, let alone a Grandmaster."

"But you don't need to worry about him causing trouble in the short term. Although I can't kill him, I can injure him severely. Later, he traveled a long distance to assassinate the naval commander Lai Huer. The fact that he was injured but not killed is enough to prove that his condition is extremely poor."

Shi Zhixuan was very confident in his martial arts. Thinking of how a Grandmaster was so busy, forced to go on missions even when injured, he couldn't help but sigh, "What a pity for Fu Cailin. He was born in a foreign vassal state and achieved Grandmaster status with a low-level inheritance. His talent is so outstanding that even his teacher can only admire him. However, his safety is related to the life and death of Goguryeo. He is confined to his freedom for the rest of his life and there is no possibility of further advancement."

Yang Xuyan nodded in satisfaction upon hearing this and said, "As long as Fu Cailin doesn't come out, I have the confidence to keep Liaodong City. As for the other cities..."

Shi Zhixuan chuckled coldly, "Your Majesty's intentions are obvious. Who among us would understand that? But the temptation is also quite great. The vast fiefdom outside the domain can serve as the foundation of the family no matter how you look at it. However, this bone is not easy to chew. Boy, did you instigate this bad idea to Your Majesty?"

Yang Xuyan shook his head slightly and said, "Master Shi, you're wrong. This method was actually an extension of the reward His Majesty gave me. He said he saw many opportunities from the joke, so he issued this order to carefully select some meat bones for several major clans."

At that moment, someone suddenly arrived outside to announce the arrival of envoys from the Yuwen, Li, Cui, and Wang clans. These clans happened to be the owners of several cities east of Liaodong City. Shi Zhixuan and Yang Xuyan smiled at each other, their day finally having arrived. However, getting Yang Xuyan to side with them was proving difficult. Without sufficient incentives, it was practically impossible, and getting him to give it up was even more impossible. It would be hard to find another opportunity like this to publicly secure a fiefdom.