The Battle of Salsu was a major battle that occurred in the year 612 during the second campaign of the Goguryeo–Sui War between Goguryeo of Korea and Sui of China. Goguryeo won an overwhelming victory over the numerically superior Sui forces at Salsu River.
History
An old portrait of Eulji Mun-deok, the field marshal of Goguryeo during the second Goguryeo-Sui war
In 612, Emperor Yang of Sui invaded Goguryeo with 1,138,000 men.[3][6] Unable to overcome the stalwart Goguryeo defense at Yodong Fortress and other fortifications in Liaodong, he dispatched 300,000 troops to directly take Pyongyang, the capital of Goguryeo.
The Sui forces labored in their advance to the Goguryeo capital, due to the internal discord within the Sui military command and a poor supply line. Troops had been given a large amount of supplies which were expected to last the entire march, a heavy burden which ended up being abandoned by exhausted troops en route.[7] Goguryeo General Eulji Mundeok gauged the morale and exhaustion of the Sui army by feigning surrender and touring the Sui camp.[7] Although the Sui commander Yu Zhongwen had been instructed by Emperor Yang to capture Eulji Mundeok upon encounter, another general, Liu Shilong, recommended Eulji's release to negotiate surrender terms with the Goguryeo King Yeongyang.[8] After his successful escape fully aware of the Sui army's turmoil, Eulji lured the Sui troops deep into Goguryeo territory, furthering the Sui troops' exhaustion and worsening morale.[9]
Although the Sui army approached Pyongyang, troops were in no condition to besiege the fortified capital without any further supplies. The army expected to be supplied upon arrival at Pyongyang by a naval force commanded by Lai Hu'er, but they had been already defeated by Goguryeo troops in an ambush within Pyongyang by Go Geonmu, the King's younger half-brother. Realizing their situation and goaded by Eulji's poem encouraging retreat (Eulji Mundeok Hansi), the Sui commanders decided to retreat back to Liaodong.[7] Goguryeo forces then pursued the retreating Sui forces in a series of attacks, culminating in a climactic battle at Salsu, where pursuing Goguryeo troops cut down vulnerable Sui troops crossing the river. Korean nationalist historian Sin Chaeho and modern popular portrayals float the idea of Eulji using a dam to inflict damage on the Sui army,[10][11] but no contemporaneous source attests to the use of a dam or a water attack.
The surviving Sui troops were forced to retreat at a breakneck pace to the Liaodong Peninsula to avoid being killed or captured. Many retreating soldiers died of disease or starvation as their army had exhausted their food supplies. This led to an overall campaign loss of all but 2,700 Sui troops out of 305,000 men.[3][8][4][12] The Battle of Salsu is listed among the most lethal "classical formation" battles in world history.
Aftermath
The near-annihilation of the contingent sent to Pyongyang, along with the lack of progress in Liaodong, forced Emperor Yang to retreat without any major gains. Commanders Yu Zhongwen and Yuwen Shu were put in chains and demoted to commoners, with Yu Zhongwen dying shortly after returning to Sui and Yuwen Shu eventually reinstated to military duty for future campaigns. Liu Shilong was executed for defying the Emperor's order to capture Eulji. Emperor Yang attempted two more invasions in 613 and 614, but both ended in failure. Eventually, the enormous human and financial costs of the campaigns resulted in multiple rebellions and the empire started to crumble from within. It was finally brought down by internal strife and replaced by the Tang, who would continue campaigns against Goguryeo in the Goguryeo-Tang wars.
References
^"The Three Kingdoms". National Assembly of South Korea. 7 July 2006. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
^ abcdLee, Ki-Baik (1984). A New History of Korea. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 47. ISBN067461576X. "Koguryŏ was the first to open hostilities, with a bold assault across the Liao River against Liao-hsi, in 598. The Sui emperor, Wen Ti, launched a retaliatory attack on Koguryŏ but met with reverses and turned back in mid-course. Yang Ti, the next Sui emperor, proceeded in 612 to mount an invasion of unprecedented magnitude, marshalling a huge force said to number over a million men. And when his armies failed to take Liao-tung Fortress (modern Liao-yang), the anchor of Koguryŏ's first line of defense, he had a nearly a third of his forces, some 300,000 strong, break off the battle there and strike directly at the Koguryŏ capital of P'yŏngyang. But the Sui army was lured into a trap by the famed Koguryŏ commander Ŭlchi Mundŏk, and suffered a calamitous defeat at the Salsu (Ch'ŏngch'ŏn) River. It is said that only 2,700 of the 300,000 Sui soldiers who had crossed the Yalu survived to find their way back, and the Sui emperor now lifted the siege of Liao-tung Fortress and withdrew his forces to China proper. Yang Ti continued to send his armies against Koguryŏ but again without success, and before long his war-weakened empire crumbled."
^ abcNahm, Andrew C. (2005). A Panorama of 5000 Years: Korean History (Second revised ed.). Seoul: Hollym International Corporation. p. 18. ISBN093087868X. "China, which had been split into many states since the early 3rd century, was reunified by the Sui dynasty at the end of the 6th century. Soon after that, Sui China mobilized a large number of troops and launched war against Koguryŏ. However, the people of Koguryŏ were united and they were able to repel the Chinese aggressors. In 612, Sui troops invaded Korea again, but Koguryŏ forces fought bravely and destroyed Sui troops everywhere. General Ŭlchi Mundŏk of Koguryŏ completely wiped out some 300,000 Sui troops which came across the Yalu River in the battles near the Salsu River (now Ch'ŏngch'ŏn River) with his ingenious military tactics. Only 2,700 Sui troops were able to flee from Korea. The Sui dynasty, which wasted so much energy and manpower in aggressive wars against Koguryŏ, fell in 618."
