The clapper is a water warfare weapon that appeared in the Sui Dynasty, in fact, it is a giant log several feet long, mounted on the side of the ship, once there is a water battle, the soldiers will pull it high, and then put it down violently, using the huge force of the clapper stick to smash the opponent's ship.

This weapon was widely used in the Sui army when it was in the south, and Yang Su led the naval army to fight fiercely with the Nanchen army on the Yangtze River.

At this time, this kind of water warfare weapon had not yet been introduced to Goryeo, and when the Sui army used this huge slapstick to smash the Goryeo military ships, many Goryeo soldiers thought that the masts of the Sui warships had fallen.

The Goryeo navy was defenseless, they approached the Sui warships at close range, just for the convenience of bows and arrows, and in a short period of time, the Sui army's slap gave the Goryeo navy a heavy blow.

More than 20 warships were smashed and sunk one after another, and there were Goryeo soldiers floating everywhere on the water holding broken logs and calling for help, but they were greeted only by the ruthless arrows of the Sui soldiers.

The water battle between the two sides quickly entered a white-hot state, the war drums on the river were like thunder, the shouts of killing shook the sky, arrows and artillery stones flew all over the sky, and the huge slap rods slapped heavily against the Goryeo warships like arms, and the ships were constantly damaged and made a piercing sound of hull breaking.

In the battle of the navy, the sails of the ship will generally be lowered to prevent being shot by the enemy's rockets and igniting the sails.

"General, the enemy ship is flexible, and it is difficult to hurt the enemy with a slap stick!" A soldier shouted.

The Goryeo navy learned a lesson, and they no longer approached the Sui army, but kept a certain distance, taking advantage of the agility of the boat, and fired stone cannons to attack the Sui warships.

'Phew! Bang! ’

Several Goryeo warships surrounded a Sui warship and fired continuously. Powerful cobblestone crashes into the big ship. With the continuous sound of cracking, the Sui warship was smashed through a large hole, and the river poured into the ......

In the distance, Laihu'er saw that the enemy ship was nimble. Immediately said angrily: "Pass my order, take the ship!" ”

'Ship encirclement' is the traditional way for large ships to deal with small boats, that is, large ships form a circle. Drive the boat in the middle of the encirclement.

Although it is easy to say, this tactic requires tacit cooperation and skilled boat driving skills, and the slightest negligence can either be drilled by a small boat and slip through the net, or a large ship is prone to collision.

The sailors who come to Hu'er have undergone countless trainings, including several water battles against Lin Shihong, and have rich experience and superb boating skills.

Thirty large ships began to close, ten large ships filled the perimeter, and dozens of small ships were driven in the encirclement.

At this time, the Goryeo ships were already aware of the tactics of the Sui army. They broke through separately and tried to break out of the gap in the Sui army's big ship, but the Sui army tacitly cooperated. So that they did not break through. Instead, several ships were smashed by the slap pole, and even two were sunk.

Lai'er watched coldly, and the boat slowly closed. When he saw that the ship was encircled, he resolutely ordered the east bank: "Attack with fire oil!" ”

Although fire attack is a traditional method of warfare in water warfare, the use of fire oil is the advantage of the Sui army, which makes the fire attack of the water army become more powerful.

On each ship there was a small trebuchet capable of throwing stones weighing thirty pounds a hundred paces, and the navy used canisters.

This kind of fire oil tank is specially fired, sealed and sealed, with only a walnut-sized hole, which is plugged with a wooden stopper.

The Sui army's fire oil canisters were so powerful that as the long arms were thrown, clay pots filled with fire oil were thrown out and smashed into the small boats of the Goryeo army.

The clay pot shattered, and the fire oil flowed all over the deck or the walls of the ship, and was soon ignited by the rockets of the Sui soldiers, and in a matter of moments, dozens of large ships were ablaze.

The naval battle came to an end after just over an hour, with more than 80 of the Goryeo warships participating in the battle, but more than 80 were smashed or burned.

The remaining dozen or so warships fled eastward, not daring to fight again, while only one of the fifty warships of the Sui army was smashed by a stone cannon with a large hole and sank due to the inflow of river water.

This disparity in power soon ended in a crushing defeat for the Goryeo naval army......

But by this time, the alarm caused by the beacon fire had already reached the capital Pyongyang, and the three-pillar beacon smoke meant that a large army was coming, and the beacon smoke came from the riverside, either the fleet came to attack, or the army of Silla hit the south bank of the river.

The defenders of Pyongyang did not know where the enemy was coming from, but this did not stop the panic in Pyongyang, which was in a panic, the gates were closed, and the soldiers rushed to the city to prepare for battle.

Soldiers rushed into the palace to report to the king of Goryeo, Gao Jianwu, who was about 30 years old this year and had been on the throne for nearly a year since he ascended the throne at the end of October last year.

He spent most of the year thinking about how to regain power from the Yuan family, and he didn't think about the invasion of foreign enemies.

Goryeo's enemies were mainly from the mainland of the Central Plains of the Sui Dynasty and Silla in the south of the peninsula, but the civil war in the Central Plains was raging, and the Sui army had no time to invade Goryeo, and Silla was enthroned by the new king last month, and it was impossible for the Silla army to invade Goryeo so quickly until it secured power.

So when the news of the beacon fire came, Gao Jianwu was stunned all of a sudden, he didn't know who the enemy was? How did you invade Goryeo at this time?

"Pass my order, the city gate will be closed immediately, all the troops will go to the city for defense, and then mobilize the whole city to prepare to participate in the defense."

Gao Jianwu successively issued defensive orders, and at this time, Goryeo's second minister, Yizhi Wende, stepped forward and persuaded: "Great King, the minister feels that it is likely that the Sui army is coming to attack. ”

"Sui Jun?"

Gao Jianwu was stunned, he didn't believe it, "Didn't Gai Suwen's intelligence say that the Sui army was attacking the Dou Jiande army in Qingzhou?" How did you come to attack Goryeo? ”

"The king, Yang Yuanqing has always been good at trickery, and the minister suspects that attacking Qingzhou is just his suspicious strategy, used to confuse the Tang Dynasty, but also to confuse us, and more importantly, the king of Silla has just ascended the throne, no matter what, they will not come to attack us, it can only be the Sui army."

Gao Jianwu walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, his eyes were full of anxiety, he didn't know what to do, their army was only more than 20,000 people, could they withstand the attack of the Sui army?

Eulji Mundeok is an important minister of the Goryeo Kingdom second only to Yuan Taizuo, good at strategy, both civil and military, although the situation is crisis at this time, he is very clear-headed. Know what to do.

He saw that Gao Jiande was anxious. He persuaded him: "King, the Sui army must have come prepared, but we were not prepared. This siege was bound to be tough, and the minister suggested asking Gai Suwen for help and asking him to send reinforcements. This was the most effective way to defeat the Sui army. ”

Gao Jianwu was really reluctant to ask the Yuan family, he knew that Gai Suwen was not good at it, and once he sent troops to rescue, he would have to pay ten times the price, which really made him hesitate.

At this moment, a soldier rushed to the front of the palace to report: "King, something is wrong, news is coming from the riverside that our naval army is defeated by the Sui army's warships." It's all gone. ”

This news immediately stunned Gao Jianwu, it was indeed the Sui army, and his naval army was completely annihilated. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his heart. Sit heavily on the couch.

Etozhi Wende was also a little anxious, and he persuaded again: "King." Make up your mind! Or it's too late. ”

Gao Jianwu sighed, and finally nodded, "Second Minister, I will trouble you to go on this matter, and tell Gai Suwen that if he can lead the army to help, I can make him Mo Lizhi." ”

In the end, Gao Jianwu still made the most reluctant decision, sending someone to ask Gai Suwen for help, asking him to send troops to support Pyongyang......

The city of Pyongyang was already in chaos, and the streets were full of running soldiers, and all the officials were dispatched, knocking on doors from house to house, mobilizing the young and strong people in the city to go to the city to help defend the city.

A young man ran all the way into the 'Ya' character inn, and as he ran, he nervously shouted: "Shopkeeper! Shopkeeper! ”

The unrelated guests in the hostel were dissatisfied with the bad attitude and bad food of the guys, and they all checked out and left, leaving only a few dozen Sui army scouts disguised as merchants in the hostel.

The second batch of disguised merchants of the Sui army also arrived, about ten people, plus the first batch of merchants, as well as the guys in the pavilion, so that the cumulative strength of the Sui army in the hostel reached fifty people, becoming a force to be reckoned with.

At this time, the scout leader Wu Jiezheng and the shopkeeper Li were sitting in the inner hall to discuss countermeasures, and they also received the news that the Sui army was about to reach Pyongyang, which made them extremely excited, but at the same time very nervous.

Wu Jie led the scouts to infiltrate Pyongyang to cooperate with the Sui army to attack the city, this is their task, now that the city gate has been closed, they are already in the city, then the next step is to play a role in the Sui army's siege.

"We don't have any armor with us, has Shopkeeper Li already arranged it?" This is the problem that Wu Jie is most worried about, without weapons in their hands, how can they fight with the Goryeo army.

Shopkeeper Li smiled and waved his hand, "Don't worry about weapons and armor at all, back then, the Sui army dropped a large number of armor and weapons, which caused the flood of armor in Goryeo, every household has it, and it can be bought very cheaply, I am ready." ”

Shopkeeper Li stood up and said with a smile: "I'll take you to the cellar to have a look!" lest Captain Wu be uneasy. ”

Wu Jie was just about to speak, but at this moment, a guy rushed over, "Shopkeeper, there is a big matter!" ”

"What's the matter?"

The man panted and said, "The Goryeo officials are mobilizing from house to house, asking all the young men to help defend the city. ”

Shopkeeper Li was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "This is not good, everyone quickly hide in the cellar." ”

Wu Jie muttered, "Actually, it's okay, let's go to help defend the city, and then everyone will gather in one place, how about Shopkeeper Li?" ”

Shopkeeper Li thought about it, and this was fine, so he took out a map, pointed to the city gate directly south, and said: "It will definitely be chaotic when the war starts, so we will concentrate on the east of the south city tower, where there is a stone tablet, which is easy to find." ”

Wu Jie nodded, "That's it, I'll go tell all the brothers, you go tell the guys." ”

At this time, a fellow ran and said, "Shopkeeper, an official is here and asks everyone to join the war." ”

Shopkeeper Li walked out quickly, only to see an official standing at the gate, he immediately stepped forward and saluted, "This official, the small shop is full of merchants, not Koreans, do they also want to help defend the city?" ”

The official waved his hand and said without any negotiation: "The king's order, all the young men in the city participate in the defense of the city, whether they are locals or not, so the merchants must also fight!" ”