On April 12, Cui Hongsheng, the general of the Left Wu Guard, commanded the expeditionary front-selling army to force the Liao River, and the third Eastern Expedition began.

The Goguryeo people resisted a little on the Liaoshui line and retreated across the board, without making unnecessary sacrifices, and retreated into the Liaodong city, sticking to the city, playing to their strengths and avoiding their weaknesses, so as to use limited forces to achieve the best results and achieve the expected goals.

After Cui Hongsheng crossed the river, he ordered the troops of the Selected Front to take advantage of the victory and attack Liaodong City directly, and surround Liaodong City.

Liaodong City is only more than a hundred miles away from the Liaoshui River. It is the first major city in Goguryeo to defend Middle-earth. It has very strong defensive ability. In this protracted war, it was twice besieged by the Middle-earth army for months without losing it, creating an unprecedented miracle, successfully restraining and consuming the Middle-earth army, and making great contributions to Goguryeo's survival.

This time, Liaodong City used the same strategy in the face of the third attack of the Middle-earth army. However, three consecutive years of war have caused it to be severely damaged and unsustainable. Its existing strength is no longer able to withstand the fierce attack of the Middle-earth army and it is difficult to achieve the expected goal for the third time. Therefore, even though the whole city of Liaodong is full of fighting spirit, it has no belief in winning. It can only be passionate and swear to defend the country to the death.

On the morning of April 13, Cui Hongsheng rushed to the city of Liaodong to investigate the military situation on the spot. He listened carefully to the generals' reports and immediately issued an order to surround him, but he did not attack, waiting for the arrival of the main army.

He also ordered Wu Benlang General Jin Wenyan to lead his troops to attack Qianshan and open a safe passage for the selection army to attack Wugu City in the east.

The generals of the army asked for an order to attack the Liaodong city and seize the city at any cost to cleanse the previous shame.

Liaodong City has become a nightmare for the Expeditionary Force. The first Eastern Expedition was blocked at the Liaodong City. The long-term attack failed, resulting in serious delays in the attack process. However, the second Eastern Expedition was exactly the same, but it was blocked at the Liaodong City. The Holy Lord even came to the city to supervise the battle, but in the end it failed. Liaodong City was like a rock standing across the road to advance of the Expeditionary Force, and like a thorn pierced deep in the hearts of the expeditionary soldiers. Even its existence has seriously affected the morale and morale of the Expeditionary Force and the attack strategy of the Expeditionary Force.

Cui Hongsheng was quite moved by this. Before the war began, who would have thought that this border town of a small barbarian country would actually play a huge decisive role in the war, which not only directly affected the course of the war, but also changed the fate of both sides of the war and the general trend of the world.

This war is destined to be recorded in history, and Liaodong City will be famous for it forever. Even if it may turn into ruins at the end of this war, it will not be able to erase its glory at once.

However, Cui Hongsheng had no intention of attacking Liaodong City. In fact, he had a lot of slight remarks about the Holy Lord and the Commander's insistence on attacking Liaodong City during the first two Eastern Expeditions, and even tried his best to attack Liaodong City at all costs. However, due to the situation and identity, he did not dare to make it public. Among the expedition generals, there were many people who had the same views as him.

Because of the expedition, there are too many factors that are subject to the war. Therefore, from a military perspective, the best strategy is to attack Pyongyang at the fastest speed. As long as Pyongyang is conquered, there will be no suspense in this war. Therefore, the attack speed is the key. You must not compete for the gains and losses of a city and a place, and you must not invest your limited power on secondary or even insignificant targets. If you can't fight, don't fight, and surround it from all sides. What's the need to waste a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources, and still have precious time to attack a border town, a non-main target?

However, the Holy Lord led the army in person, not only interfering in military command, but also going to the front line to supervise the war. The amateur commander was professional. The result was imagined that if you don’t do what you should do, and if you shouldn’t do it, you will be very enthusiastic. The main army did not kill Pyongyang directly, but wasted time and life meaninglessly under the city of Liaodong. In the end, he shot himself in the foot, reaped the consequences, caused disasters, harmed others, and harmed the country.

During the third Eastern Expedition, the Holy Lord would also be in charge of the army. It can be foreseen that for the Liaodong City, which could not be conquered for a long time and brought great shame or even political disasters to the Holy Lord, the Holy Lord would have to kill him quickly and would have to launch the third siege war. He would have to go on the wrong path and never look back, which would have to bring immeasurable risks to the third Eastern Expedition.

To prevent the Holy Lord from leading the expedition in person was the consensus of the Eastern Expedition Command, but this was obviously unrealistic. The Command did not have this ability, and at most it was to try every means to set up some obstacles. So the generals of the Command worked together very tacitly, from Yuwen Shu, Guo Rong, to Li Jing, Xue Shixiong and Cui Hongsheng, all made their own efforts, such as refusing Anton's army to go south to Huaiyuan to meet, adjust the attack plan, cross the river to attack in advance, etc. Of course, they did not have any hope.

However, perhaps, the Lord of God was favored by the emperor, and the Holy Lord made the decision to temporarily stay in Linyu in the palace and not go to the Liaodong battlefield to personally expedition, which was an unexpected surprise for the Commander. In the third year of the Eastern Expedition, the Commander was truly given the command of the battlefield, and professional matters were finally done by professionals.

However, the Holy Lord and the Central Master did not make a decision not to go to the Liaodong battlefield, and the Holy Lord did not clearly state that he would not be the third imperial expedition again, so the palace could continue to go north to Liaodong at any time, and the Holy Lord could also cross the Liaoshui River to visit the battlefield at any time. The commander-in-chief fully controlled the battlefield command without any interference. For example, the time for commanding the third eastern expedition was very limited. For this reason, the generals of the commander-in-chief reached a consensus and did their best to strive for the best results within a limited time.

Specifically, it is to learn from the painful lessons of the previous two defeats in the Eastern Expedition, no longer compete with the enemy for gains and losses of one city and one place, no longer turn the main and second place, put the cart before the horse, no longer make low-level mistakes, resolutely implement established decisions, attack Pyongyang with its main force, and use auxiliary forces to surround several important cities such as Liaodong City and Wugucheng on the way to the east, and surround without attacking, and only ensure the safety of the food routes of the main army at the minimum cost.

In this way, Cui Hongsheng's task will be arduous and the risk will be great. But as long as he can reach the city of Pyongyang with lightning speed and open a passage for the main army to follow up and encircle Pyongyang, even if the Holy Lord and the Central Army arrive at the Liaodong battlefield, the Holy Lord personally visits the city of Liaodong and roughly interferes with the command of the commander of the commander, and once again attacks the Liaodong city and eliminates the shame, the Commander has sufficient reasons to advise and beg the Holy Lord. After all, Cui Hongsheng has gone deep alone. If the main army does not follow up and support quickly, it is equivalent to putting Cui Hongsheng and the elected army to death, and it is equivalent to putting the third eastern expedition to the despair of the north. This is something that the Holy Lord cannot accept, so the Holy Lord will inevitably make the right choice and it is impossible to concentrate its efforts to attack Liaodong city and make the same mistake in the same place.

Cui Hongsheng asked the army to kill Pyongyang quickly, but he couldn't and dared not tell his subordinates publicly about this decision.

In fact, the Command Department did not make this decision publicly. For political reasons, the senior generals of the Command Department clearly had this idea, but they did not dare to make this decision publicly. They just formed a tacit understanding between each other. This tacit understanding is that as long as Cui Hongsheng's vanguard army promotes the battle situation to the direction preset by the Command Department, the Command Department will cooperate closely. The four generals, Yuwen Shu, Guo Rong, Li Jing and Xue Shixiong, will do their best to follow and throw their main forces to the highest goal of attacking Pyongyang.

The reason for this situation is that centralization is the weakening and encroaching on the military power of the Holy Lord and the Central Committee, and the fact that the Wei State has lost the position and right to speak in the decision-making of war.

During this Eastern Expedition, the Holy Lord and the Central Committee had not yet visited the battlefield. The Commander truly controlled all the battlefield command. However, this does not mean that the Commander could do whatever he wanted, throw the Holy Lord and the Central Committee aside, and could simply fight for victory in the Eastern Expedition from the military, without considering the political harm that such behavior would bring to the Guardian and themselves.

In the first two Eastern Expeditions, the expedition army began to attack Liaodong City after crossing the Liaoshui River. If they couldn't capture it for a long time, they would be angry and impatient, like a wild bull that had lost his mind, with a pair of red eyes wide open. Regardless of the crazy attack, they completely forgot that the target of the Eastern Expedition was Pyongyang, not the border town of Liaodong City. However, this was the central decision, the Holy Lord's order, and even the Holy Lord personally came to the battlefield, took the lead, and took the lead. What else can your military say besides sacrificing his own life to die? If you don't fight, you are resisting the order, you are cowardly fighting, and even have ulterior motives. In politics, you are going to take the dead end. Can you still accuse the Holy Lord and the Central for being wrong?

Centralization leads to authority supremacy, and authority supremacy leads to a one-man rule. What is right is right and what is wrong is right. If someone accuses the Holy Lord and the Central Committee of the wrong, of course it is to provoke authority, and it is the enemy of authority, and it is to be wiped out.

In this political environment, even Yu Wen Shu, the absolute confidant of the Holy Lord, was walking on thin ice and facing the abyss, trembling and fearing that a mistake would lead to eternal regret. Therefore, during the third Eastern Expedition, even though he expressed his intention to prevent the Holy Lord from taking charge in person and carefully set up some obstacles for the Holy Lord, he was all attacking the banner of "maintaining the authority of the Holy Lord and the central government". He was politically correct, and even if he angered the Holy Lord, he would not pay an unbearable price.

It is not difficult to deduce the psychology of the four generals including Guo Rong, Li Jing, Xue Shixiong and Cui Hongsheng. They are absolutely impossible to make political mistakes. If they want to be politically correct, they cannot first face the Holy Lord and the Central in military decision-making. After crossing the Liao River, they must not stop fighting Liaodong City. Otherwise, how do you explain? Do you dare to say that the Holy Lord and the Central Committee do their best to attack Liaodong City in the first two Eastern Expeditions? If it is wrong to attack Liaodong City, then wouldn’t the failures in the first two Eastern Expeditions be caused by the blind command of the Holy Lord and the Central Committee? Aren’t you publicly questioning the authority of the Holy Lord and the Central Committee? Are you not ****?

Therefore, although Yuwen Shu and others did not want to attack Liaodong City, they all wanted to kill Pyongyang with all their hearts, but no one dared to make this decision publicly, so they could only form a tacit understanding. They said they would attack Liaodong City, but in fact they killed Pyongyang directly. In this way, they not only catered to the will of the Holy Lord and the Central Committee, maintained their authority, and maintained political correctness, but also could re-adjust the attack strategy without leaving any trace after the Holy Lord and the Central Committee came to the battlefield to maintain their own safety.

Cui Hongsheng was very conflicted because of this. Faced with the requests from the generals, he was not good at refusing to avoid severing the enthusiasm of everyone and stolen morale. However, he could not agree. Liaodong City could not delay the army's advance and delay the army's attack on Pyongyang. Therefore, Cui Hongsheng could only give up. When the commander-in-chief will decide, the commander-in-chief will be at silence. Please wait until Yuwen Shu and Guo Rong, the two commanders and commanders, come.
Chapter completed!