The north wind is howling and snowflakes are flying. Among the snow-capped mountains, there is a mountain city surrounded by villages. In the residence of the royal palace in the city, Gao Jianwu, the king of Goguryeo, sat firmly, looking at the copper stove in front of him, looking at the little white smoke coming out of the stove, but not feeling the warmth.

The war was unfavorable, and bad news came almost every day, which made Gao Jianwu's mood worse and worse, especially after the surrender of the Eastern Lord Yuan Gaisuwen, he almost never laughed.

Since then, the Zhou army has continued to erode all over the country, and mountain cities have continued to fall, but our side still cannot win decent battles. Not to mention attacking, even the defense has begun to struggle.

If this continues, the country will be over, but they have no way to escape.

There was a vast sea to the east, and the retreat routes between the north and the south were cut off. Gao Jianwu felt that he was in a desperate situation and probably couldn't last long.

This is different from what was imagined before the war. At that time, the nobles and generals firmly advocated that they should strengthen their own walls and clear the fields. Relying on the mountains and the Zhou army to fight against each other, if the other party's logistics could not be sustained, they would naturally retreat, but the development of the battle situation was beyond everyone's expectations.

Now the Zhou army's offensive has not diminished at all, without any sign of being unable to hold on with logistics. According to the news that many parties have found out, the Zhou army has already carried out military farming in the occupied areas and has achieved a good harvest this fall.

As he thought about it, Gao Jianwu's eyes darkened. He picked up a carving knife from the desk, took a piece of sandalwood and continued to carve the Buddha statue.

During this period, he had time to carve Buddha statues. This piece of sandalwood had already begun to have a contour. Only when carving the Buddha statues could Gao Jianwu feel calm and temporarily forget the torment in his heart.

Is it surrender? Or is it a fire of both jade and stone?

Now that the situation is clear, the country is about to perish. Instead of struggling, it is better to surrender as soon as possible.

Gao Jianwu wanted to surrender, not because he was cowardly and incompetent, but because the Zhou State was too powerful and they could not defeat him, but he wanted to surrender, but the "Chinese people" (nobles) did not want to.

In the war more than ten years ago, Goguryeo suffered heavy casualties, lost a large amount of land, population, and the interests of many nobles were damaged. Therefore, everyone was like a gambler who was jealous, screaming and trying to make a profit. If you still have some capital (army) in your hands, you must continue to bet.

Take back what you lost.

The obsessions of countless nobles gradually evolved into resentment. Whoever dared not agree with them will be in trouble.

Gao Jianwu's brother Gao Yuan paid the price for his defeat more than ten years ago. After his death, his son was not allowed to succeed to the throne, but instead he took advantage of Gao Jianwu. However, Gao Jianwu, who ascended the throne, could not be happy because he felt that he was being set on fire by the nobles.

One of the reasons why the nobles supported him as the king was to retaliate against Gao Yuan, and the second was to hope that he could change the status quo and do something.

However, facing a desperate opponent like Zhou State, it is not easy to change the status quo.

Goguryeo could not afford to offend Zhou, so she joined the Baekje Alliance to deal with Silla. Silla was supported by Zhou. Over the past ten years, she has resisted the attacks between the two countries and can counterattack from time to time.

Gao Jianwu knew that because he had never brought any decent victory to the country, the nobles began to be dissatisfied, probably thinking that he was incompetent, so there was disrespect in his words.

Gao Jianwu was very annoyed at first, but he was powerless to do anything about it. If the nobles could support him as the king, they could also support other royal families as the king.

His Gaozu, King An Zang (Gao Xing'an), was extremely dissatisfied with the nobles because of the failure of external expansion, and eventually died of misfortune. Since then, the Goguryeo kings of all dynasties have had to face the various impacts of the decline of royal power.

Correspondingly, the emergence of powerful ministers. Even though kings of all dynasties have been trying to suppress powerful ministers, one powerful minister is finished and another powerful minister emerges again.

The nobles only recognize interests. If the king can bring them benefits, they will support the king. If the powerful ministers can bring benefits to everyone, then support the powerful ministers and underestimate the king.

However, if anyone is incompetent and cannot give benefits to everyone, it will harm everyone's interests, and then the nobles will turn against each other very quickly.

The Yuan family is an example. Yuan Ziyou made remarkable achievements in using military force to the outside world, so he was supported by the nobles. His son Yuan Taizuo was the same. Therefore, an official position "Mo Lizhi" that was higher than Dalu became the treasure of the Yuan family's father and son.

However, when Goguryeo was defeated in the battle with Zhou and lost a large amount of land and population, the Yuan clan soon lost its favor. Yuan Taizuo could not even guarantee that his son Yuan Gaisuwen would inherit the position of Eastern Adult.

Thinking of Yuan Gaisuwen, Gao Jianwu put down his carving knife and sat blankly. After a long time, he sighed.

To be honest, he was very happy to see the Yuan family being alienated by the people of the country, but the other party had the opportunity to surrender, and it was said that he was forced to surrender by his subordinates, which made Gao Jianwu very envious.

Now that things have come to this point, the country cannot be saved. He thinks that if he can surrender, it is also a good thing to be a rich man. At least his family can survive in the world instead of dying.

However, he was not as lucky as Yuan Gaisuwen, because the nobles around him were basically red-eyed and wanted to fight the Zhou army, and they must persevere among the mountains and fight against the Zhou army.

The casualties of soldiers on their own are getting worse and worse, and the troops are gradually insufficient. Then the old man and young man will also take up weapons to participate in the battle. If the weapons are not enough, they will use sharpened wooden sticks as spears.

If the food is consumed too much, then control the distribution of food. The untouchables eat tree bark and wild vegetables. Anyway, they can't starve to death. Save the food and leave it to the army.

In order to boost morale, widows and unmarried women were assigned to soldiers. In order to cause trouble for the Zhou army as much as possible, they organized all those who could shoot archers and lurked in various mountains and forests, raiding the Zhou army camp.

At every military meeting, the nobles actively discussed the strategy of defending the enemy, while Gao Jianwu sat on his head like a wooden statue, nodding from time to time to say yes.

He did not dare to show his tendency to seek peace (submission), nor even to show any weakness. Every time he watched the excited nobles discuss how to cause damage to the Zhou army with great enthusiasm, it was like watching gamblers discussing how to make a comeback.

At this time, whoever dares to persuade will be unlucky. Gao Jianwu looked at the nobles and screamed, "Breaking both jade and stones", calm on his face, but he was in great pain in his heart.

You are now shouting "Breaking both jade and stones". When the Zhou army really attacks the city, they are afraid that it will not be a quick surrender, so they will push me out and put all the responsibility on me!

The more Gao Jianwu thought about it, the more angry he became, and his breathing became rapid. He looked at the Buddha statue (semi-finished product) in his hand, took a deep breath, picked up the carving knife, and continued to carve it.
Chapter completed!